


Nier: Refraction

by Okamisenpai34



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Abandonment, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Awkward Romance, Death, Drama, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, Psychological Trauma, Romance, Science Fiction, Slow Romance, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-02-23 03:00:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 34,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23904670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okamisenpai34/pseuds/Okamisenpai34
Summary: After the fall of the Tower, and the deaths of Adam and Eve. 2B, 9S and A2 are plunged into a new crisis. what do they do now that the bunker has fallen? and what awaits them ahead now that the logic virus has been neutralized?
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

"Do you regret your actions? Absolution is not unreachable, even with your past actions haunting you so.", the masked figure extended it's arm to 2B, who was on the floor, severely damaged from the battle that had just ensued. Dismantled corpses of other androids littered the floor around them.

"I don't need to be forgiven by you, I did what I had to do to save them all", 2B responded softly, slapping the hand of the masked figure away before standing up once again. Once she was back on her feet she extended her right arm straight forward, which caused a sword to materialize on a flash of yellow digital looking sparks.

"my, my, you've grown brave since the last time we spoke, time is a wonderful thing isn't it 2B, too bad Adam and Eve will not be here to see the fruition of their parting gifts.", whispered the masked figure before raising his arms into the air, materializing a shinning orb in between them. "the gift of life, the last creation of the twins. Behold, the result of your work 2B, watch as the very thing you fought so hard to protect becomes your worst nightmare!"

"Pod, now!", 2B yelled as she leapt into the top floor of the crumbling building, Pod 042 instantly teleported beside her midair, creating a ripple of wind which kicked all the surrounding dust into the air, creating a blanket of dust around them.

**_[Decoy program activated_** ], announced Pod 042 inside of 2B's head, to which 2B nodded as 4 perfect copies of herself materialized around her.

The masked figure, who was looking up from below began to laugh hysterically, before the eyes in his mask began to emit a crimson glow, a glow 2B was very familiar with. "you may have slayed my brothers, but my legacy shall live on!", the masked figure yelled as it raised both of its hands into the air, creating a massive wave of energy, like that of the Pods' long range attacks.

2B had no time to react, before she was able to compute what had just happened, the heat of the attack began vaporizing her, time slowed down around her as she began to understand what was happening. Death.

As the heat of the attack began disintegrating her upper body, she used the last ounces of power within her to force herself to look down at a particular corpse in the flowerbed of death beneath them. the body of the companion she had lost far too many times, and now that the bunker was destroyed, she knew that any android who died now, died for good.

"I'm sorry…I'll be with you soon, I promise." Whispered the dying android as the heat finally vaporized what was left of her.

* * *

"what do you mean 2B? you're right here haha, why would you need to go somewhere else to be here? Your statements don't make much sense these days you know? The Pods may have used faulty materials when they rebuilt us.", chuckled 9S who was towering over 2B as she laid on the floor, having just awakened from her…dream?

"Was I…dreaming?", 2B thought to herself, her face becoming more and more serious with every passing second. Her companion noticed this almost immediately which caused him to raise an eyebrow and fidget in place for a bit.

"um…2B?" asked 9S, as neutrally as possible to avoid hitting a fuse.

"what is it 9S?" asked 2B as she propped herself up from the floor. As she looked around the room they were staying in, she realized not much had changed. "actually, 9S, now that Adam and Eve have been eliminated, what are we going to do now?".

3 days had passed since 2B, 9S and A2 reactivated after their respective Pods put them back together once the tower fell, luckily for the pods, the remains of the bunker had crash landed into earth not too far from them. the pods used the parts of the corpses inside to rebuild their respective owners, but during their excruciatingly long search for parts, they had surprisingly ran into a couple of survivors of the logic virus inside of the bunker, although the bodies were severely damaged, they could still operate.

[ ** _during our search for parts in the fallen bunker, we met survivors inside the bunker. Suggestion: units 2B and 9S should make haste for the bunker immediately to assist the survivors_**.], suggested Pod 042 as it hovered in between 9S and 2B.

"absolutely not. to hell with them." came a voice from behind them belonging to none other than A2, hostility and anger clearly emanating from her short reply. "you two imbeciles can go if you want, but I'm not moving a finger to help any of those lying assholes.", Barked A2 once again as she took a seat in the tattered couch inside the room they were occupying.

[ ** _survival of YoRHa personnel is paramount, reconstruction of the bunker must be done within_** -], replied Pod 042 in its iconic, monotone voice as it floated closer to A2 before being cut short by the overpowering voice of A2.

"you flying trash cans don't listen well, do you?", growled A2, which made Pod 042 initiate it's emergency retreat parameters and teleported to 2B's back.

2B couldn't help but smile a little as the Hard-assed Pod got its literal cubical ass handed to it. "I understand your stance on this, but we really need your help, please remember that even though we beat the twins, the logic virus is still rampant in some parts of the city, specially near the flooded harbor, which is where we need to head. We need your strength, please?" pleaded 2B as she took A2's hands into her own, causing the long-haired android to recoil back in shock.

"f-fine! Of course, you need me, I am the strongest android left in existence after all." A2 clapped her hands together as she took a heroic stance, which made the couch she was sitting on break immediately under her weight.

2B couldn't help but giggle just as 9S couldn't help but laugh as the combat loving android before them lost her mind after being praised.

* * *

After leaving the abandoned building they used as their living space near the massive crater inside the city, the crew of androids ran into a couple of frenzied YoRHa units, that A2 was reluctant to destroy, but nonetheless did anyway in order to advance.

"well, here we are, so how exactly do you propose we reach the bunker? I highly doubt It crashed into land, so I'm guessing we're going to have to go far into the ocean, aren't we?", asked 9S as he brought one of his fingers up to his lips to help his train of thought.

[ ** _affirmative, the bunker has crashed approximately 34 miles from this location._** ] responded Pod 153.

"good question, last time I checked we weren't equipped with any aquatic warfare functions…were we?", asked A2 as she twirled her type-40 sword around her hand.

"i-I might be able to help with that, although the idea may be…less than likeable" spoke the skeletal faced being from behind A2, which caused her to instinctively point her sword towards him, missing his face by mere inches.

"EMIL!", yelled both 2B and 9S in unison, their faces overflowing with joy after seeing their favorite skull boy for the first time since being reconstructed.

"hello guys! I'm surprised to see you guys made it! I could have sworn that for a second I saw our body and his fall out of the tower when it fell…", said Emil as he pointed his fingers towards A2 and 9S who simply looked down at the ground after being reminded of their apparent demise.

2B coughed to allow for a change of subject, which Emil was happy to do. "well as far as my idea goes…", Emil moved one of his fingers from pointed at the androids and moved it towards a surfaced relic of a submarine.

"what do you propose we do with that calcium boy?", A2 teased as she gave Emil an extremely smug face.

Emil's eye seemed to twitch for a second, the androids weren't too sure whether it did or not however, this only amused A2 even further who surprisingly laughed. "just kidding Emil, go ahead and tell us what you have in mind." She spoke again before patting him in the back.

"well…" a drop of sweat formed on Emil's forehead as he spoke of his plan in vivid detail.

"YOU WANT US TO WHAT!?", yelled all the androids in unison, which made Emil cover his ears.


	2. A glimmer of hope

Emil's plan was a rather bizarre one. As Emil told the group of androids his plan step by step, the androids couldn't help but feel a little uneasy with his constant use of the word "probably".

"look guys I know it sounds crazy but what if...you guys rode on a decommissioned torpedo? I mean, it PROBABLY won't explode since it's…old. There's no guarantee that they'll even work anyway.", Said Emil with his grin showing small signs of uncertainty.

u-um I don't think doing that would be a good idea…I mean, If the bunker was online and we could upload our data just in case, then it wouldn't be so crazy, but as you know the bunker is offline so…if we die, then we really are dead for good." Said 9S who looked extremely worried, not about his own safety, but that of his companion.

2B noticed 9S's concern and made quick work to side with him, "9S is right, Emil don't you have any other alternatives? Preferably something that won't end with us three in pieces."

While Emil, 9S and 2B argued over what was the best alternative, A2 cupped her chin using her free hand and began thinking about Emil's original plan. "You know what? To ride a torpedo, you have to be really strong right?...heheheh.", she began to giggle at the thought of the two inferior androids holding on for dear life to her as she stood atop the torpedo fighting the force of the wind using nothing but her battle scarred body.

"how about we go look in the nearby ruins for any abandoned or lightly damaged flight suits? I'm sure some of them have to be operational even after crashing." Suggested 9S as he brought his finger up to point at the nearby ruins near the entrance of the sunken harbor.

"that's actually not a bad idea, but how do we know that there isn't any malicious code remaining inside the coding of the suits? Since we have to link ourselves with them, we could end up accidentally injecting ourselves with malicious data." Responded 2B as she narrowed her eyes to express her concern.

It was true, after the final push to finish off Adam and Eve, the bunker had sent thousands of YoRHa units down to earth to finally put an end to the logic virus, over 89% of the units that had been sent never managed to touch land before being destroyed or corroded by the logic virus. Even now, several days after the battle, corpses of fallen YoRHa androids and Pods littered the streets and surrounding buildings.

The danger was very possible, they discovered that remnants of the logic virus still remained deep inside the cores of some of the frenzied YoRHa combat units they've seen, even more worrying was the fact that they had no recollection of who or what they were, they simply shouted things like "why" or "why am I here".

"don't worry 2B, I'll make sure to scan any functioning ones we find! Hacking is my job I'll protect yo-", shouted 9S excitedly before being stopped by 2B's hand on his mouth.

"that's fine, it's not like we have a choice, but you are to scan them externally, do you understand? If you hack them you'll be in even more danger since your very core will be exposed to any virus remnants that may still be in there." Although 2B was clearly upset at 9S's careless attitude, she was still worried about his safety, she had just managed to get him back and his actions could very well take him away from her once again, even if It wasn't by her hand, she never wanted to lose him again.

Emil simply stared at the two androids as they argued over each other's safety. A2 joined soon after, taking a seat beside Emil on the sandy shore before speaking. "they're both oblivious, aren't they? I mean even I know that there's more than friendship there.", said A2 as she let go of her Type-40 causing it to flash away into nothingness with a flash of golden sparks and materialize immediately on her back.

"that they are, but I don't think it's a bad thing, if they take it slow it'll be more special in the end don't you think?", responded Emil giving A2 a warm smile.

"true. But at this speed nothing will ever happen so I'm going to have to tease them a bit to accelerate things.", whispered A2 to Emil before she stood up and cupped her hands together in front of her mouth to imitate a megaphone. "hey 2B! you and 9S should kiss already you know? It'll make things so much easier on our end, it's getting annoying watching nothing happen."

"w-what!? There's no way me and her could do tha-", 9S was immediately flustered by A2's words, causing him to stammer on his words before his core nearly shut down due to overheating from 2B's response to the issue at hand.

"understood. If it will speed up this operation I shall do this act you speak of, by the way 9S, what exactly is kissing anyway? Is it some sort of modification or boost?", 2B was completely oblivious to what she had agreed to causing both Emil and A2 to laugh hysterically at the cosmic turn of events.

"oh, it'll boost something alright." Screamed both A2 and Emil in between their laughter.

"h-hey! Don't make her agree to such things! Tch, let's go 2B.", 9S grabbed 2B's hand in the midst of his embarrassment and made haste for the ruins.

Watching the 2 clueless androids leap away into the ruins, A2 and Emil finished gathering their breath and proceeded to fist-bump each other. "you're alright." They said in unison before following after the other two.

"found one! Wait…never mind its missing the engines", shouted 9S from the bottom of the pile as 2B continued to search the top level of the ruins, jumping from rooftop to rooftop in search of useable flight suits.

A2, who was also searching in the lower floor of the ruins, watched as 2B leapt from the building in her right to the one on the left before setting her eyes on the floor once again. "searching is such a pain in the ass!", she protested as she slashed the wall to her right with her blade, causing it to leave extremely deep cut marks.

"it'll be fine, don't worry, unlike when I scavenge for things to sell by myself, we have those two and their Pods searching, we're bound to run into something soon.", Emil's voice was calm and collected, after all, he had spent years scavenging around for things to sell to the resistance and YoRHa.

"hey Emil, look, who am I?", as Emil turned around, he couldn't help but burst into laughter at what he saw.

A2, whose hair now closely resembled that of 2B, except with a lot more layers and sharper look, was standing against the corpse of a fallen robot, pursing her lips close to its face pretending to kiss it passionately.

"give her a break A2 haha, it's not like she can help it. Actually…wait I think I see something inside the building through those cuts you made.", Emil walked towards the damaged wall before a voice from within caused both him and A2 to jump into a battle stance.

a blonde android peeked her head through a small crack on the wall , "h-hi there, are you guys with YoRHa too? I've been hiding here for the last couple days ever since my squad went berserk…", the female android looked to be shorter than 9S, which was surprising considering that 9S was the smallest in their group, followed by Emil."

"9S! 2B! we found a survivor!", Yelled Emil before turning back to the blonde android. There was obvious fear on her face, something horrible must have happened to her to be this afraid. "don't worry, they're trying to get to the bunker to help, what's your name miss?"

"YoRHa type R, number 4. You can call me R4 I'm a recon unit, nice to meet you both.", said the shy android before disappearing back into the building.

"I see, so you were part of the initial wave, I'm surprised you survived. You did well to hide in here, do you remember where you last saw your squad before running away?", 2B was trying to be as comforting as possible, she knew the pain of losing someone, and the young android was clearly very affected by what happened.

"yes, I separated myself from them near the sunken harbor, there was 5 of them, plus our leader.", the girl looked down to the floor before continuing, "have you…seen any androids in that area by any chance?"

2B and A2 looked at each other, A2 looked down sadly before approaching the girl slowly, when she finally reached her, the girl looked up at her with hopeful eyes, which caused A2 to hug the girl before giving her the grim news.

"I'm sorry, there was no way we could have brought them back, after we eliminated them we scanned their corpses and found out that the logic virus had corrupted their core systems…there was no coming back for them", A2 nearly broke down as she remembered the doom of her own squad long ago, there was no way this girl was qualified to go into combat this early, what was YoRHa thinking!?

"it's o-okay", was all the young YoRHa soldier could manage before breaking down into tears in A2's arms.

"Damn it. Damn it.", the words continued to repeat inside A2's head before she hugged the girl even tighter, causing the despairing young android to cry even harder. "shhh. Its ok now, we're here."

9S, who was inspecting the flight suit the girl had with her, couldn't help but stop and remember the time he thought 2B was gone forever, watching A2 slay her like some animal atop the wooden bridge. "it's ok to cry, the emotions we were given weren't for nothing you know?", his words were soft and quiet but 2B managed to hear them anyway, causing her to look down at the floor too.


	3. Break Time

The walk to the resistance camp had been a longer one than usual, the mood surrounding the group was grim and depressing, causing even Emil's seemingly permanent grin to waver. After R4 had been given time to grieve in A2's arms, the group had decided to move on to the next best option for info and materials. The resistance camps.

After A2 comforted her, R4 seemed to have taken a liking to A2, causing her to hold her hand the entire way to Anemone's camp in the center of the city. The turn of events had been bizarre enough that 2B and 9S had to take doubletakes of the scene just to remember it was actually happening. To their knowledge, A2 detested being touched even more than she hated YoRHa itself, so the sight of her allowing someone to hold her hand of all things was plain amazing.

Emil decided to give the group a break and made his way back home for the day, agreeing to meet up with them the next morning near the antenna tower by the wooden bridge leading into the ruined mall.

"are you feeling better?", A2 asked the fragile blonde that was latching on to her hand for dear life, only to be greeted back by a simple nod and a forced smile.

"I'll be ok…thank you for asking, are you okay yourself? You seem a little down too…I'm sorry if I caused you guys to be this upset, everyone seemed to be having fun until I came along…", said the blonde android in between sobs, her hand tightening into A2's.

"don't blame yourself for something like that, we're glad to help, we are just a little sad and mad that we were too late to save people", 9S was trying his best to calm the depressed blonde, doing silly poses and pretending to trip as he talked, sometimes it worked since the heartbroken blonde would sometimes hide a smile underneath her hair when she looked down.

"he's right R4, you did well to protect your life, just think about it this way, had we never found you, we would probably be even sadder than we are right now.", 2B took a knee in front of the young android and gave her a sincere smile.

* * *

Upon finally arriving at the resistance camp, they were met by what seemed to be door guards, they had never been present before, so they had surprised the group upon asking them for their business in the camp.

"we're here to talk to Anemone, and hopefully the twins also if they're here. I am 2B and my companions here are 9S and A2, we've all been to the camp before.", responded 2B as she moved aside so the guards could see all of her companions.

"and the girl?", said one of the guards as he pointed at R4.

"she's with us, we found her earlier today at the sunken harbor, her name is R4, she's YoRHa like us."

"very well, come on in.", the guards quickly opened the newly reinforced gates and led them into the familiar town-like camp. To their surprise, a couple of tents and small buildings had been erected around the camp. Several unknown androids also littered the streets of the camp, some in obvious critical condition, some missing limbs, some in perfect condition and helping the rest. The group was too focused on the new scenery that they didn't notice Anemone approach them.

"welcome back you tw-oh? A2? I didn't think I'd ever see you again, it's great to have you back.", Anemone's charismatic smile was contagious, causing everyone to smile in return. Due to the recent last stand and the near destruction of her camp, she had changed her outfit from her usual to a more military looking get-up. Her usual cloak and scarf had been replaced by a chest piece that reached up to her neck, hiding it completely from sight, while her head was mostly exposed, she had made herself a makeshift helmet from the remains of a fallen Goliath.

"nice dress, getting you the attention of the guys more?", joked A2, which caused her silent, blonde companion to smile as she looked up at her in between their joined hands.

"no, not really sadly, not like I can repopulate this place anyway, seems like you beat me to getting myself a kid, who's the doll?", responded Anemone as she laughed before kneeling down and offering R4 a hand. "nice to meet you kid, I'm Anemone, I pretty much run this place, badass right?"

R4 smiled and shook hands with anemone before saluting and following her training in military introductions. "YoRHa model R, Number 4! Pleasure to meet you Ma'am!".

Anemone couldn't help but look at her in shock, trying her best not to burst out in laughter. A2 on the other hand simply narrowed her eyes and let out a small chuckle, 9S and 2B simply stared to the side hiding their embarrassment when they noticed nearly the entire camp had stopped to look at them.

"we'll I'll be damned! I swear you YoRHa gotta tell me your secrets, you keep popping kids faster than my 3D printer!", Anemone patted both 2B and 9S on the back, assuming the blonde had been of their mutual creation before heading back to A2 in the front. "so what can we do for you?"

"we need something to be able to travel in water, Emil suggested torpedoes but the ones in the submarine were armed so we couldn't risk it, would you happen to have something similar?"

The team sat down in the shade near the Jukebox, 2B sat beside 9S before anyone else could, which caused him to smile a little, A2 sat as far away from everyone as possible but her plans to remain alone were thwarted when R4 sat in between her legs.

"hmmm, we might have something but you'll have to wait until Devola and Popola get back from their supply run. They'll back tonight so you're welcome to stick around till-", Anemone couldn't finish her sentence before a resistance member pulled her aside and whispered in her ear. She came back shortly after seemingly annoyed. "well I'm needed somewhere, I guess this is goodbye. You guys take care now okay?"

The group nodded and waved her goodbye before she was pulled away by a huge mob of resistance members demanding her attention and opinions about their project and other things of the sort.

* * *

The hours went by slowly, 2B and 9S had decided to walk around the camp to find supplies and anything else they might need for their mission while A2 and R4 stayed near the jukebox listening to the music that was emanating out of it, sometimes singing along to them together.

"miss A2? What was your role in YoRHa? I don't recall seeing you on the bunker…ever", R4 looked up at A2 from her lap, to her surprise A2 seemed almost angelic in the moonlight, her pale complexion seemed to shine and give more emphasis to her eyes, which were extremely beautiful on their own, light blue, like the ocean she had traveled over many times before.

"you wouldn't have, I abandoned YoRHa a long time ago, but when I was still a part of It, I was a high-ranked Squadron leader during the 14TH machine war, you probably hadn't even been created by that time, but I've been around for quite a while…", A2 looked down at the star struck blonde before ruffling her hair around. "I was good friends with my squad, I miss them sometimes just like you miss yours, but don't worry, you're not alone anymore".

* * *

"9S look! Look at this blade! Look at how sharp it is! We must get this immediately, it is NECESSARY for our success!"

On the other side of the camp, 9S was being dragged around by an extremely excited 2B, who after discovering that the camp had a newly revamped shopping district, decided she absolutely had to see it for herself.

"2B I don't think we have the funds for that…", said 9S as he cocked his head to the side in an attempt to seem cute to stop 2B from her explosive shopping spree.

"nonsense, we must sell our pods immediately, this blade was obviously crafted someone who surpasses the skill of the smith in the forest kingdom, I must have it."

"2B, y-you can't!"

Devola and Popola, who had just walked through the gates narrowed their eyes and sighed at the sight of 2B shoving her pod at the merchant's face in an attempt to sell it while the pod itself tried to wiggle itself free, 9S covering his face in embarrassment right beside her.

"those two sure have changed haven't they, sister.", Devola looked at her twin before smiling.

"no, not at all, but then again, they always brighten up the night don't they", Popola scratched her head and made her way to them.

* * *

"absolute madman! I'm telling you this trade is a steal! My Pod for this blade is the deal of the century!", 2B, who was still arguing with the vendor, kept shoving her pod into his face every time he denied her offer.  
"I'm sorry ma'am but I can't accept YoRHa equipment, especially one that is still operational, I'll be killed if they think I stole it.

"how about you stop harassing the poor man and tell us what you needed us for earlier", said the twins as they pulled her away from the weapon stall.

"h-hey! I'll be back for that! You best not sell it!"

* * *

With much effort, the twins managed to drag 2B back to A2's location with 9S following close behind.

"we need something like a torpedo to get to the bunker, preferably something that won't explode if we accidentally hit something along the way.", 2B was back to her usual self, composed and business-like.

"so, you want a manned aquatic vehicle? That's fine and all but what about your bodies? We aren't deep water resistant.", replied Devola as she lowered one of her eyebrows in confusion.

A2 was quick to put Devola's concern to rest. "don't worry about that part, I've already thought of something to deal with that, we'll have to modify some of the YoRHa battle suits we scavenged and make them lighter so we don't sink, but the suits are airtight so they should work, I also need you to make a special one for her". She pointed at the blonde sitting in between her legs.

"I can transfer my model data if you need it.", said the young blonde as she lifted her hand, creating a hologram of herself with different numerical values floating around her many body parts.

"thank you, we'll look in our library, we should have something by tomorrow", the twins politely bowed and retreated to their shack for the night.

* * *

"well I guess we better rest too, let's use the special room they made for us, it had 2 beds in it right?", said 9S as he stretched and stood up from the table.

"yes but…by that logic it would mean that there are going to be 2 people per bed…", 2B couldn't help but blush and look away from 9S who just realized what he said.

Emil's eyes shot open awakening him from his sleep down underground in his home, "It feels like…I'm about to miss something extremely important!"

A2's eyes widened at 9S's extremely bold suggestion, **this is my chance!** "I'm going to sleep with R4 so don't worry about me", her face becoming smugger with every letter that came out of her mouth.

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO AGREE WITH THIS!", 9S covered his face as steam started emitting from him.


	4. Bedding Issues

The first one to wake up the next day was A2, who had been unfazed by the fact that R4 had fallen asleep with her face buried in her chest. The room was extremely quiet so she decided to lift herself up a bit to be able to see into the other side of the room, where she hoped that a certain pair of clueless androids had fallen asleep in each other's arms, instead she was greeted by 9S who had snuck out of the bed last night and opted to sleep on the chair overlooking the bed instead.

"are you kidding me?", was all A2 could muster without going into an unstoppable rage. Her plans completely backfired, they hadn't become closer at all, if anything, the bridge between them had gotten longer than before, which annoyed her to no end.

"what did you expect me to do? Just because you guys think certain things will happen based entirely on momentary impulse, doesn't mean they will. Plus…I respect her too much to do something she doesn't want to do.", 9S's sincere smile did nothing but fuel the fire within A2, how could someone be so DENSE?

"get in the bed. Now.", A2 had raised her hand into the air, materializing a gigantic ball of energy. Her eyes had become predatory and nearly made 9S faint as he noticed the floating sphere of doom floating on top of her hand.

"are you insane!? You'll kill us all!", whispered 9S loudly, fear and disbelief clearly resonating with his words.

A2 closed her hand into a fist and made the sphere disappear into a shower of golden sparks before proceeding to shoot her index finger in the direction of 9S. "no, YOU guys are killing US!. You're so clueless its maddening, every. Day. We wait. And nothing happens! After everything you've done up till now for her you're going to tell me you don't want to do ANYTHING to her?"

"she doesn't feel that away about me A2, you don't understand.", 9S had retreated back to his chair before looking back at 2B's sleeping face.

"get your ass outside. Now."

* * *

After stealthily leaving the bed without waking R4 up, A2 dragged 9S out of the room as quietly as she could. After finally reaching the courtyard A2 looked around for an empty spot before grabbing 9S by the hair and making him sit down across from her.

"you killed me.", A2's words were quick and precise, she didn't want to, nor did she need to sugar coat it, the android that sat across from her really had ended her life once already, just as she had ended his. She knew why he had done it, why he had become crazed by revenge, why he didn't care If he died in that tower. They were feelings she too had felt a long time ago.

"I know…and I'm sorry", A2 could tell he genuinely felt bad about his actions, he was a good kid from what she could tell during the short couple weeks they had spent together, but deep inside it really was bothering him, he never talked to her, he never looked at her. It was so obvious that even a calculator would have been able to come to the conclusion that he was indeed, deeply affected.

"no, don't apologize. You killed me because I killed her, right? So why apologize.", A2 raised her right hand and materialized her Type-40 sword in front of him, this sword was different from the other Type-40 sword he had seen her use, this one was cracked and still had red stains all over it, sparks also flew out of it in short intervals. "this is my real sword, the one I was assigned years ago, a friend of mine modified it for me. And I killed her with it too, her and everyone else in my squad."

9S clenched his fists the second he realized he was staring right at the object that had taken his partner away from him, the only joy he had at the time. Snuffed it away in a matter of seconds, without a word, without a sound, the mouthless demon on the table had devoured his very being the day it killed 2B.

"those feelings aren't there for show, your anger, your rage, your sadness, everything has been laid neatly on the table for you, all you have to do is put the pieces together.", A2 ruffled 9S's hair which caused him to recoil back in surprise. "you may be a total dumbass, but you're a good kid, she knows that too, stop building all these walls around you"

And with that. It was clear. 2B didn't hate him, she wasn't putting up appearances, her concern and admiration were real. His feelings were real, everyone around him was real. The pain he felt when he lost her was real.

"it may be silly to say it out loud, but we were given every emotion that humans had, and that includes love, you already experienced heartbreak, so why not experience the good kind of love this time around?", A2 snapped her fingers causing her sword to dematerialize before she disappeared into the crowd. "don't leave that frown up, you have a visitor."

* * *

"9S, is everything okay? I noticed you weren't in the room when I reactivated. I was- ", the voice belonged to none other than 2B, who apparently had been so worried about her partner that she had forgotten to put on her blindfold.

"worried?", 9S stopped her midsentence. He expected her to get upset and tell him to get ready for the day, or maybe to get their daily maintenance check started immediately but instead, he was greeted with a reaction he'd never expected.

2B's eyes began to water as she slowly made her way towards him, her body was still in the process of reactivating so her limbs were still a little stiff, which caused her to shuffle to him slowly.

"h-hey what's wrong? Are you okay?", 9S jumped up from the table and began running towards her as fast as he could, it was painfully obvious, of course she was worried, but he always tiptoed around the possibility that maybe, just maybe, his partner really did have feelings for him.

"of course I was worried, I'm used to seeing you around when I reactivate, and today you weren't there, you weren't anywhere in the room and I became worried, worried beyond what I imagined possible, for a second I had lost all reason and began to think I lost you again, that these past few weeks were nothing but an error in my system. Why did you leave without telling me? Of course, I'm worried you idiot!", 9S wasn't sure the shock within him came from being yelled at by the extremely quiet and monotone 2B, or because of what she had just admitted to, the one person who had constantly pestered him about emotions being unnecessary, was now breaking down in front of him, wailing like a newborn child who had been pulled away from its mother upon entering the world. He was her safeguard, her anchor to reality.

"h-hey I'm sorry…I-I uh…", 9S began to look around the courtyard, searching for someone, something, to help him with his current predicament. The couple had been surrounded by eavesdroppers and resistance soldiers who had stopped to see what was happening. Everything seemingly was turning for the worse until he spotted A2 leaning against the door of their room, he expected her to be angry, to give him a smug face, something to clearly show her disgust towards his cluelessness, but this time she simply opened up her arms and mouthed the words, "let her in", before retreating back into their sleeping quarters.

9S nodded to himself before embracing 2B as quickly as he could, burying her face on his shoulder. To his surprise 2B had stopped crying immediately the moment he embraced her, she wasn't shaking anymore, her body was still slumped against his, which he didn't mind since he was a guy at the end of the day.

"I'm clueless", whispered 9S as he brushed her hair, her face still buried on his shoulder. she nodded. "I'm also a little slow at these things", she nodded again, slower this time. "but I was scared, that this was…one sided, you're really collected and unemotional so I can't really tell how you feel most of the time, but you're a good person, despite what you might think. I forgive you, you know? For everything you've had to do until now, all the times you had to eliminate me, I've left you all alone too many times, I want to make it up to you.", this time she didn't move, she simply move her head back a little so she could see his face more clearly. "do you really?", she said in a voice so fragile that the wind could have easily shattered it to pieces.

"of course!"

"then…I'll be taking this for starters.", 9S didn't have any time to react, before he could process what was happening, her lips had already reached his, her hands cupped around his cheeks bringing his head closer to hers. It was warm, and a little cold at the same time, the weather outside was rather windy, the tarps all over the camp were going haywire fighting against the wind, but for a second, he could swear that everything stopped, the wind, the air, the earth. Everything stopped just for this.

* * *

Emil, who had just walked into the camp, had to do a double take as he passed by the couple on his way to their room. "ah, if only ours could be so bold…wait" his eyes widening more and more as he began to realize just who the people kissing were, in the middle of the camp courtyard no less.

"n-no way...A2! A2! Something historic is happening!", he began running towards the room frantically, his arms swaying all over the place, but was stopped midway by a grinning A2, clearly aware of the situation.

"looks like they beat us both to it huh? And here I thought I would be the one to finally make something happen", Emil sighed and looked at A2, his face quickly changing to one filled with terror as her face never changed, as a matter of fact, it kept getting smuggier with every passing second. "n-no way…you did this? But how! The bet is totally off! You cheated! I just know it."

A flash of lighting passed right by Emil's cheek as A2's sword planted itself into the wall beside him. Causing him to look back slowly, trembling.

"Pay up.", A2 approached Emil slowly like a hyena approaching a fresh corpse to feast on, her grin growing bigger and bigger with every step.

* * *

After allowing things to settle down, Emil and the group sat down near the jukebox once again to wait on Devola and Popola to arrive, hopefully with good news about the schematics they needed.

"they're taking forever…", said Emil as he fanned his face with his hand, the day had become extremely hot for some reason, thankfully, the area near the jukebox had a massive tarp over it, which gave it a great amount of shade, sadly, the air itself was warm and humid, which made it even worse for him. He looked around frantically before spotting a passing vendor, "excuse me! Could I have some water?", the exchange was quick, Emil handed the currency to the vendor and chugged the massive bottle of water.

"sorry for taking so long", said one of the twins as they appeared from within the sea of people passing by. Devola was clearly ready to give them bad news, she was bad at hiding her expressions since she was an honest person over all.

"we did our best, sadly everything we have in our library is far too advanced to prepare in such a short notice, we deeply apologize.", Popola quickly bowed before her twin followed suit. "we did complete the modifications to the combat suits as requested by A2", Said Devola as she laid out 4 suits on the table, one far smaller than the rest, which was obviously R4's.

"thank you very much, you've done a lot for us I hope we can pay you back someday.", 2B gave a smile that made the twins shudder at how pretty she looked for a second, to their surprise, 2B was holding 9S's hand under the table, they didn't have the guts to bring it up but they could tell something had changed about her.

"no problem, we hope to see you again soon, and hopefully more survivors. Farewell.", said the twins in unison before waving the group goodbye and disappearing once again into the sea of androids passing by.

"oh! Right I forgot! When I went home the other day I actually searched through my own library and found this!", Emil slowly placed a piece of paper that looked like it would turn to dust with the slightest amount of mishandling. "it's called the "Chariot" it's a manned torpedo used in wars long, long ago. We can use these schematics to build something similar with our currently available resources.".

R4, who had been quiet the entire time decided to speak up when she noticed the numbers near the top left of the papers, "1942? Is that when these schematics were created? That's…a very long time ago isn't it?"

Emil nodded and carefully blew the dust off of the surface of the paper, "I have a lot of things like this in my database, sadly the old ones like this can be scanned into digital form since they're so fragile."

R4 looked up at A2 for reassurance before speaking further, she simply nodded back at the short blonde in approval. "may I try? Since I'm a recon unit, its my specialty to gather data on the field, I can easily recreate this into a 3D model."

Emil carefully moved the paper towards R4 and took a step back to allow her to work. "well sure, there isn't much to lose at this point I suppose, we may as well try everything at our disposal."

"thank you, Emil.", R4 looked at her wrist, causing a panel that hadn't been there before to materialize in the same fashion weapons did. After rapidly tapping different codes and numbers she closed the lid of the miniature terminal, causing it to disappear in a rain of sparks. "please step back guys, I'm going to need a little space.", the group simply looked at each other before taking multiple steps back, giving the small blonde the space, she had requested.

After making sure that the group was a safe distance away, R4 tapped her shoulder, causing a metallic snake to materialize around her right hand. The top of the snake was entirely white while the underbelly of it was pitch black. It's body surprisingly looked like it was composed of genuine scales.

"Naga, activate combat mode.", commanded the blonde before an extremely intimidating voice came from the snake around her arm.

[ ** _understood, commencing combat mode immediately, disengaging safety locks._** ]

A2's eyes widened as the petite blonde grew in size enough to match her own height, the snake proceeded to break into multiple parts which fused into R4's body, creating multiple layers of armor. The head of the snake found it's way into the neck of the blonde, it's mouth opening before shattering into a million pieces that reshaped themselves into a mask for the girl. The tail of the snake separated into two, creating 2 floating sharp objects near her ears, making it seem like she had dog-like ears.

The jaws of everyone in the group dropped to the floor, except Emil's, whose head simply managed to detach itself and fall unto the floor with a loud thump.

R4 waved her hand over the paper, creating a digital grid around it before opening her hand.

"commence transfer of data, use caution level 1"

[ ** _understood, commencing data extraction, removal aggression adjusted to 2 percent_** ]

The grid around the paper became smaller and smaller until it was too small to be seen, the bottom edges of the paper had caught on fire for a split second but were safely put out when R4 noticed this and ordered the removal aggression to be brought down even further.

[ ** _extraction complete. Data transferred to backup storage 2_** ]

"thanks Naga! You can disengage combat mode now.", the blonde smiled and gave the suit a thumbs up as if it was alive.

[ ** _understood, disengaging combat mode, reactivating visual cloak]_**

The suit exploded into bright purple sparks before reforming back into the shape of a snake, after completely rebuilding itself, it slithered up to her neck and shrunk in size until it was the size of a necklace.

"yay! I did it! Look, here's what it should look like when it's finished!", with a slide of her hand, a massive hologram was created between her and the group.


	5. Amazing Surprises

after a couple of minutes of silence, the group sat down on the table where they had been sitting before, their expressions unchanged.

"I should probably explain what just happened, my full model specifications are YoRHa, Type R, Model number 4, Modification X. I was part of a test unit not present in the bunker's database. In order to keep our existence a secret the bunker made sure we were created down here, on earth.", the blonde looked as if every word that exited her mouth was pure acid, corroding her very being with every letter.

"a new type of soldier? Where is your pod anyway, aren't we all supposed to have one for combat assistance?", 2B stood up and circled the blonde slowly, making sure to take in as much detail as she could about her body.

"it's right here, Naga is my companion, although it's a heavily modified Pod unit, the functions are still the same, except our pods were created using modified YoRHa black boxes. In other words, Naga is just like us.", the blonde tapped the snake's head, making it look around curiously before seemingly turning back into a piece of jewelry once again. "I wish I could tell you more, but I really don't have any data regarding my distant past."

"it's fine, you've told us enough, we can talk more about this whenever you're ready. Don't worry, we don't think any less of you, we're all pretty different from each other after all. Like skeleton boy over here", A2 took the liberty to defuse the situation, the young blonde was clearly uncomfortable talking about herself, and she wasn't showing signs of lying. There was no point in forcing her to tell them something she didn't know.

"t-that's right! Don't worry, I'm sure we will find out eventually!", Emil was also quick to catch on, mainly because it seemed his life was in the balance, A2's grip on his shoulder was firm, almost bone shattering. With a quick glance at her, he understood the reasoning behind It, it wasn't hate, it wasn't fear, it was disgust. Not for the blonde, but for the fact YoRHa had created a soldier so young, so inexperienced, so pure. Emil knew very well what kind of future awaited her, her purity would vanish soon, in order to survive, she would have to kill. Kill. Kill. And then kill again. Although the logic virus was out of the picture, different dangers still existed: rogue YoRHa members, thieves, fanatic robots, dormant killing machines the size of buildings buried deep beneath the soil, ready to awaken at any moment.

9S, who had been studying the floating hologram of the Chariot, called for everyone's attention by clapping his hands together. The tension wasn't helping, every second wasted was a possible loss of a survivor in the bunker, "regardless of who or what we are, we have people depending on us. we're not heroes, we're not villains, but we've never run from a problem, have we?"

2B couldn't help but smile at 9S's words. He could be weird a lot, that was a given, but it was something she had grown to love about him, he was scared easily, bothered by almost everything, and clueless about her feelings, until recently, she hoped. She knew that the ashen haired boy wasn't much in comparison to herself or the nuclear powerhouse that was A2, but he was special in his own way. Although the boy had died many times before, protecting her, or simply by her own hand when his time was called upon, he still found it within himself to fall for her every time he came back.

A2 and the rest of the group simply nodded and rubbed their hands together before commencing to deeply study the floating schematic themselves.

* * *

Within a couple of hours, the team had assembled 4 Chariot torpedoes using a modified version of the original plans made to compensate for the fact that a lot of the materials were either no longer present on earth or were extremely rare and would take days to find, in small quantities that is.

"where is Emil's? is he not coming with us?", questioned the young blonde, whose face was covered with oil and residue from welding sparks. Her blonde hair now tinted with dark spots all over due to the different substances they had used to construct the vehicles.

"I'm afraid not, me and water don't really match, plus I have my shop to look after and be ready to help the camp should anything happen while you guys are gone. I'll be ok", Emil gave the young blonde android a quick smile, which she quickly returned before running up to him and giving him a soft, tender hug.

"thank you for your help, mister calcium demon!", she followed, after releasing him from the hug, Emil's face quickly turning to A2, who was already on the floor covering her mouth to hide her screams of hysterical laughter.

"A2!", was all that was heard before Emil stormed out of the resistance camp, hiding his face in shame.

After failing to run after Emil, R4 turning around to a still laughing A2. "did I say something wrong?"

"oh no, no, no, you did **perfect**.", screamed the laughing android, who at this point, could barely make a coherent sentence in between gasps of air.

Across from them stood 2B and 9S.

to 9S's surprise, 2B had decided to stand behind him and wrap her hands around his neck, letting them fall to his stomach. In this position he couldn't help but feel extremely short in comparison to his companion. They laughed along with A2, the sight of the ashen haired combat obsessed woman laughing and having a good time, was enough to make them hope these days would never end.

* * *

The day passed by surprisingly quickly, getting the vehicles to the sunken harbor turned out to be an even more demanding job than they thought, thankfully, Anemone had caught them on their way out of the camp, offering some of her men to make the task a little easier on them.

[ **destination set for last known coordinates of the Bunker** ], announced Pod 042 before floating into an empty, hollowed out section near the steering wheel of the vehicle. Due to the extremely more advanced technology available, R4 had made some adjustments to the schematics to allow for automatic driving and advanced radar capabilities.

Pod 142 followed suit and embedded itself into the hollowed-out section made specifically for it in the neighboring vehicle.

"I was hoping we would make it before nightfall. We don't know what's in the water. 34 miles is fairly short in comparison to our usual journeys, but this is extremely dangerous, keep your radars at maximum range at all times, if anything happens, do not separate from the rest of the group. Stick together until we reach the vicinity of the bunker.", A2 began drawing different shapes and formations on the sand while the rest of the group watched and nodded as she explained further.

"I'll go in front, make sure to stick close to me, R4 will remain in the middle, she has the most advanced radar out of all of us, so her job is to call out targets as they come. As we know, the vehicles have been outfitted with miniature turrets we can use to fend off possible hostiles, but remember, ammunition is limited , so aim precisely. 2B and 9S, your job is to guard our blind spots, make sure nothing breaks the formation.

"understood", replied 2B before walking over to the modified combat suit.

"yes, ma'am", replied 9S after 2B left, making sure to salute and bow respectfully before heading for his own suit.

The Modified suits were thankfully, extremely easy to get into, thanks to R4's idea of using parts like what her "Pod' was made of, allowing it to change shape using simple physical triggers. The suits themselves, in their non-operation states, looked like boots with multiple layers of metal flaps extending from the hollowed spaces where their feet would enter.

Once the androids inserted their Feet, several clicks and turning gears could be heard within the boots themselves before multiple metal plates shot out of them, they floated for a second, adjusting their course to match different body parts before realigning themselves. Once the suit took its shape, the neckpiece separated into 4 sections, which came together to create their helmets.

Inside the helmets was a heads-up-display that marked their surroundings with different amounts of information. Depth, pressure, energy percentages, along with more complicated formulas that made no sense to them, according to R4, those equations told her what was around them in real time.

[ ** _keep radio communications to a minimum, we don't know if it could alert hostiles of our location_**.], A2's voiced came through a static-filled speaker inside all of their helmets.

"well. No point in delaying it any further, let's go.", A2 pushed her vehicle into the water and climbed aboard as it began to sink, the rest of the group followed suit soon afterward.

* * *

9S, who was already looking around nervously began to let his mind wonder, it was quiet. Extremely quiet. Through the HUD he could see his partners as their outlines showed up every time the radar updated his surroundings with a quiet ping. "we should have found some way to put night vision into these things.", he whispered to himself inside his helmet.

2B, who was linked with her pod to avoid having to speak was carefully looking through the data being updated in her HUD. "how close are we to the target", she asked inside her head, a soft monotone voice replying shortly afterward. [ **Destination to target: approximately 16 miles. Estimated time until arrival: 12 minutes.]**

**[we have hostiles incoming, 7 on the left and 13 on the right, watch out!],** R4's frantic screaming broke the dead silence under the water as everyone began looking around in the darkness for signs of the enemy.

R4 began poking around her neck for the necklace before finally finding it. "Naga, I need you! Tag the targets immediately!"

The necklace let itself loose, floating in the water for a second before expanding into its snake form. [ ** _understood, deploying targeting field._** ], a short wave of blue energy surged past the group before exploding into a gigantic grid of lasers. The enemies quickly became visible when their shapes broke the grid, signaling the group of their location.

Muffled gun fire began to ring through the water as soon as the automated turrets found their targets in the dark.

"god damnit!", A2 screamed inside her helmet as a hostile laser grazed the side of her suit, allowing water to start flooding into the lower section of her body. " **you bastards**!", her body began to feel heavy, causing her to look down. Her eyes widening when she realized her body was only being kept together by R4's companion. "wha-"

* * *

[ **Where's A2!? Her signal isn't showing up on my screen anymore!],** 9S's voice was full of panic, there was no way the strongest of them all died this close to their destination. Right? Muffled explosions and gunfire littered the vast ocean around them.

Flashes of light appeared from time to time, letting the 3 remaining androids know that their enemies were being defeated by their turrets.

[ ** _R4, do you copy? Do you see A2 in your radar? Has she been left behind?_** ], 2B's voice came through inside R4's helmet, causing her to break out of her shell-shocked state. "y-yes! She's here but she cant fight anymore, her vitals are critical!"

[ ** _understood, can you cover her until we reach the bunker? We're almost there, hopefully the repair bay is intact_** ]

"of course! Ill protect her no matter what!"

* * *

Several minutes passed until the group finally reached the bunker, thankfully the gigantic building was still afloat, and there were no signs of a hole anywhere in it's structure.

Once close enough, the androids resurfaced their vehicles and jumped into some exposed railings on the side of the bunker. Naga still tightly wrapped around A2's midsection, keeping her body together.

Once they reached the top, Pod 042 linked into the Bunker's system, causing a latch to open beside them, it's ladder leading directly into the housing section of the bunker, near the hangar.

* * *

A2's consciousness drifted back and forth, her body felt weightless, she knew this feeling very well, it was the same feeling she had felt long ago during the fight with her squad, their faces flashed in and out of her vision, their terror-filled expressions imprinted into her eyes.

Death wasn't a stranger to A2, during her travels she had seen plenty of it, robot, android, animal, insect. Death had taken many forms to haunt her further, yet it didn't stop her. Revenge had been the only thing that kept her going all these years, and now that she was beginning to allow herself to feel, to truly live without needing to destroy something to satisfy her anger, to justify her existence, her life was being snagged right out of her hands, a cruel joke of fate.

When A2 opened her eyes, she found herself in a valley of white flowers, the stems of each flower, a deep crimson, darker than blood itself, and near the edge of the valley, stood a girl, she looked unlike anyone she'd ever seen before, everything about her was foreign, everything except her long white hair, a color she had grown to recognize and associate with YoRHa units, something the girl in front of her was not.

The girl slowly turned around after realizing she wasn't alone, a smile quickly forming from her lips.

"I've been waiting for you, for a long time."

Her voice was more beautiful than anything A2 could imagine, it was as if it had a life of its own, it was almost magical, in its own right.

"your comrades gave you a name similar to the one I had when I was alive", spoke the mysterious girl before taking a seat on top of the flowers beside A2. "you have something you want to protect now, don't you? I was the same way before I was sealed."

A2 took a defensive stance, burying her feet into the ground, ready to strike at a second's notice. "who are you."

The girl fixed her hair aside, revealing a pair of pink eyes, and a flower on her lap, different from the rest. "people knew me as the betrayer, I was never properly named but I took on the name of Zero a long time ago. Pleasure to meet you."


	6. Slumber Within

Anger, hatred, worry, an eternal spiral of foreign emotions was currently spinning inside of R4, the young blonde couldn't explain, even to herself, why she was so affected by the sight of the extremely damaged A2. It wasn't the first time the young android had come into contact with pain and death, she remembered the horrified screams of her squad members as she ran away into the ruins, leaving them to rip each other to shreds, friends murdering friends, dismantling one another without remorse.

R4 clenched both of her hands into fists and slammed them quietly into her lap, tears beginning to run down her face. "if only I had been calmer, none of these would have happened.", she whispered to herself as she lowered her head, allowing her blonde her to cover her face from the world. She wanted to disappear, to cease to exist. The pain of knowing that a life she held dear was now vanishing because of her, was far too much for her young metallic heart to take.

"we need a medical unit immediately!", shouted 2B as she ran through the seemingly endless halls of the housing unit inside the bunker. As she ran, she could clearly see that a lot of the rooms no longer had power, and some, surprisingly, were flooded to the brim, their doors almost giving out from the pressure.

As she took a left corner near the end of the hall, she came face to face with a group of heavily armed YoRHa personnel.

"identify yourself, intruder.", said the armed woman in the middle, her sword directed straight into 2B's vitals.

2B bit her lip at the extremely formal tone of the armed woman, deeply annoyed by the complete lack of understanding on her part. "YoRHa type B, Model 2. But that doesn't matter right now, I have another unit here in need of emergency medical assistance!"

The armed woman looked to her left at another armed individual, this one however, was much taller and inside of a combat suit, so 2B wasn't sure about their gender or type. Not that it mattered anyway.

The suited figure swiped her right hand in the air, creating a holographic screen, after looking up the data 2B had provided, it nodded to the armed woman before letting the floating screen dissipate into bright yellow sparks.

The armed woman let go of her sword, causing it to explode into a flash of white particles before reappearing on her back almost instantly. "you may pass, your companions have been given approval as well.", she cocked her head in the direction of R4 and 9S. after defusing the situation the now unarmed woman dropped to her knees and covered her face. "that was SO scary! What if it had really been an intruder! We would have been completely doomed!".

2B tilted her face to the side to express her confusion.

The armor-clad android facepalmed before pressing a button on her left arm, allowing her helmet to dissolve into 4 pieces around her neck. "I'm sorry about that, I'm D14, a defense model.", she then pointed her finger at the other armored android, which had allowed her helmet to dissolve as well, their faces now completely visible. "that's M16, she's the one you're looking for, she's a medic type.".

"pleasure to meet you, but we must leave the formalities for later.", said the medical unit before snatching the wounded A2 out of 2B's hands and running straight into a nearby room.

"How's it looking", asked 9S, who had R4 on his lap to calm her down, although it was obvious it wasn't working since her face was still painted over with worry and horror.

"she has become stable, the Nano-reconstruction procedure was a success. However, it seems like her motor functions are constantly showing a state of being on and off, I've never seen something like this before.", responded the medical unit, a frown forming on her face as she read the data coming out of the several screens around her.

2B closed her eyes and let the moonlight sink into her. "as long as she comes back to us, that's all that matters, if there's anything we can do, let us know."

M16 turned her chair around and gave 2B a smile before standing up, making her way beside the bedridden A2. "although this is just a hypothesis, since technically her motor functions are still active, she might be able to hear you. So why not talk to her for a while until she reboots? I'm sure she must be worried, look at her, her face is showing clear concern."

R4 jumped out of 9S's lap and laid down beside A2 on the bed. "I'll be here with her, I won't leave her side."

"I won't leave her".

R4's voice rang through the valley of flowers, causing A2 to look up into the endless white sky.

"a shining light amongst the darkness, I believe that should the darkness ever consume you, she'll never leave your side. To the very end.", Zero smile wide and released the flower she had kept on her hand, leaving it to be blown away by the infinite, windless gust.

A2 buried her face into her legs, holding unto herself tight with her arms. "I hate this." She whispered as she began to shake, which told Zero all she needed to know.

Zero bent down to pick another flower before stopping as her fingers brushed the petals of the flower below her. "everything is connected in some way or another. Worlds, cities, people, the oceans, the wind, life. Everything. I don't think you meeting that girl was a random occurrence, she shines brighter than any other I've seen."

"she's a bit graceless, and sometimes completely oblivious to things around her, but she's a good person.", replied the sobbing android that had allowed her eyes to water down even further. "why are weapons like us even allowed the freedom of emotion? I never understood this damn curse of ours."

"weapons", repeated Zero. "I don't think anyone that would cry for someone else could be considered a weapon, death and life are part of the same sword, just as lies and truths are. And as we know, all of these are infinite, much like this flowerbed.", she extended her arms to the side, creating even more flowers to grow in the furthest plains visible. The emptiness inside A2 began to ache, her head began to pound louder and louder as more and more flowers exploded into existence around her.

"it's time for you to return, but fear not. We'll meet again someday, I'm sure, ******", the wind around A2 and Zero began to roar out of control, leaving the last words to escape her mouth to become inaudible.

A2 opened her eyes slowly, the warmth of a new day suddenly becoming apparent to her synthetic skin, a mysterious weight and a small lump beside her, alerted her that she was indeed not alone in the room. Trying to regain her balance she pushed herself up into a sitting position. The room around her was foreign, the smell of desolation filled the room, combined with a startling, lingering scent of apples.

Moving the bed sheets aside quietly, A2 found the expected sight of the sleeping blonde beside her. The young fair-haired android inhaled and exhaled painfully, as if her lungs stung from screaming too much, her hands were rolled into fists, which were latched to A2's undershirt, rejecting any possible idea of letting go.

A2 sighed and slowly moved her right hand to the top of R4's head, burying her fingers into her hair, allowing her extremities to bask in the splendor of it's softness.

"wake up, I can't do very much If you're holding on to me here like Emil holds onto his money.", the words woke R4 from her makeshift slumber, her eyes widening as they became more focused, thoroughly taking in the sight of her beloved, silver haired friend.

"roughly 4 days and some hours to spare., commented M16 to a dumbfounded A2.

"I've been out for THAT LONG!?", the combat obsessed android pulled at her hair. "what's happened in all that time!? It's like I traveled in time!"

"oh, you know, we turned Emil back into a human, solved the resistance camp's part shortage, created a new form of currency and established communism amongst the many beached turtles in the sunken bay.", Joked 9S as a wide grin appeared on his face, it wasn't everyday that A2 was this vulnerable to being messed with. Right now, he could say anything, anything he could come up with, and A2 would believe him.

"that's amazing! Damn, now that you did all that by yourselves, it almost feels like I was slowing you down all along.", a look of sadness quickly overtaking her joy.

2B noticed this and shot a predatory glare at 9S, which signaled him that he had, indeed, royally fucked up.

R4 tilted her head in confusion, her thumb quickly making its way to her mouth to deepen her thinking ability.

"h-hey I'm just kidding! We missed you, really. We need you please don't say things like that.", pleaded the guilt coated S unit.

A2 pulled on his shirt to bring his face to hers. Her sadness dissolved, only to be replaced by an ever-growing grin.

9S began to sweat digital drops of fluid, his face becoming filled with terror at the sudden realization. "n-n-no way, you demon! you monster!"

A visible cloud of smugness quickly encased A2, her grin growing bigger and bigger as her ethereal smugness filled 9S's soul with anguish and fear.

"gotcha, dumbass"


	8. A Hint of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the bunker arc nears its end! i hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. i hope the combat scene wasn't too horrible, i tried my best.
> 
> remember to leave a comment if you're enjoying the story or have any questions! i also take suggestions into consideration if you guys have anything in mind you would like added! so dont be scared to ask!
> 
> so far I've really enjoyed writing Nier: Refraction, i hope to grow it even further in time! currently i have 2 arcs prepared once the bunker arc ends so i look forward to your thoughts!
> 
> thank you once again for reading, please enjoy.
> 
> -okami

A2's recovery went by smoothly, M16 had offered to update her systems to facilitate combat, which she quickly agreed to. Updating was a hassle for A2, since she was a first-generation unit, a lot of the advanced features found inside 2B, 9S and probably R4 too, were nowhere to be found in her.

Thankfully the Bunker had decided to not scrap the first gen updating stations, although the were a bit rusty and severely in need of material restoration, A2 found them suitable enough for her, since in a way, she was just like it. Used up and rusty deep inside.

The update station was a simple white chair with a jungle of cables extending out from it, the chair itself was bolted to the floor to allow for the systems underneath it to function properly, in case of any violent movements.

"how much longer do I have to stay here, its starting to annoy me", A2 crossed her arms and pouted like a child, making R4 giggle in the background as she watched the comedic skit unfold.

M16 looked at the screen to her left, which was floating in midair, and turned back to A2, "roughly 15 more minutes."

A2 let her head fall back and let her body go limp. "whatever makes me stronger I suppose.", she whispered to herself.

* * *

On the other side of the bunker, 2 androids sat face to face, their postures, extremely professional and business like.

"9S, I wish to extend an invitation your way at this moment", said 2B, her hands placed on the table in an extremely lady like manner, her leg on top of the other, much like a queen would do when sitting upon her throne.

9S gulped and blinked multiple times under his blindfold, "I see madam, what would this invitation consist of? If I may ask."

A couple of YoRHa work units, who had happened to walk by during their repair attempts on the bunker, decided to hide themselves on the edge of the corner facing them.

"what is all this about?", whispered an operator unit to a repair unit, which was underneath her.

"I'm not entirely sure, but isn't that 2E and 9S?", responded the repair unit.

"no, no, I think the commander said she's to be referred to as a B unit. Therefore, that's 2B and 9S.", said another worker unit as it leaned further on the wall to see better.

"that's correct, she's no longer an E unit, especially now, since…. we'll just see for ourselves.", spoke out commander white, who had apparently materialized out of thin air and was now leaning against the wall with the rest of them.

"once we return to the mainland, I wish to take a stroll with you in the amusement park.", 2B's voice was extremely quiet and small, fragile as glass.

9S pulled on the collar of his uniform, "I-I see, well I don't see a reason to deny this request."

2B's face lit up with joy, a smile quickly forming on her lips. She began to lean towards his face which was deep in thought, it was somewhat attractive to her, the way he completely forgot about his surroundings whenever he was deep in thought. Her face leaning in ever so closely to his.

The group of witnesses hiding behind the corner gulped in unison, including commander white, who was blushing furiously, her eyes widening with every inch that was erased as 2B's face came closer to her companions.

"I'm sure A2 and R4 would love a change of scenery for once, being trapped to the confines of the city can be boring, good idea 2B!", shouted 9S who slapped the table in joy.

"WHAT!?", cried put multiple voices as more and more bystanders fell from their hiding places, one landing directly on the table separating the 2 partners. Apparently, people had been listening from the ceiling as well.

2B looked around in disbelief, although the had been there for multiple days, she hadn't into contact with other YoRHa units, with the exceptions of the medic, the guard and the clumsy unknown unit that had stopped them.

"where have you all been? We've been here for days and this is the first time we've seen anyone else!", shouted 9S as he looked around the room at all the familiar faces.

"we've been busy fixing up the backup generators and scavenging whatever we can from the flooded hangars downstairs, my apologies for not welcoming you back properly." Spoke a familiar voice, which quickly turned the corner to reveal itself.

2B and 9S looked at each other before standing up and saluting at the figure they had thought was long dead. "commander!"

* * *

Somewhere in the desert, near the abandoned housing complex…

"the preparations are finished, we are ready to begin whenever you're ready.", Spoke a masked woman, her long blue hair covering half of the mask. She was slim and had a very acrobatic figure, 2 blades floated on her back, the hilt of one being completely white, while the other was completely black, including the steel.

"do not be hasty, watching this unfold will make this worth the wait.", barked another masked figure, this one being clearly male, his hair extending all over the place, it wasn't clear how he was able to see, even to his companions around him.

"they have taken our beloved brothers, so we shall take something of theirs.", said another masked figure, who was standing near the window, watching the waves of the sand be swept away by the wind. "and you, my dear lamb, will be the beginning of the end.", he said as he turned around, revealing a battered-up Emil, his clothes tattered and in pieces, leaving his bleeding body exposed to the elements.

* * *

"you're all done A2, please disconnect yourself from the system", said the M unit as she cracked her knuckles and sank back into her chair, beaten by fatigue. "by the way, I upgraded your Pod too"

A2 turned at her Pod, which was now extremely shiny, so shiny that she could see her own reflection on it's surface. "how long did you polish this damn thing."

"I didn't, R4 did, the thing was too disgusting for me to touch, you haven't cleaned it in years.", replied the medical unit, without lifting her head from its place.

R4 took this as a cue and tugged on A2's sleeve, making her turn towards her.

"thanks kiddo", she smiled as she petted the young blonde's head.

"I did other things too, but you have to name it first! Otherwise it won't work", said the blonde as she bounced around in excitement.

"name it? Why would I do that, it's a Pod", responded A2 as she raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"just do it", glared the small R4 unit.

"fine geez, um, how about…Sebastian.", replied the silvered haired android before an extremely demonic voice began to leave the floating Pod.

[ **voice recognition complete, naming process complete, this unit shall now be identified by code: Sebastian. Updating system information…complete** ]

R4 fell to her knees, shivering in terror. "I built you a death machine…and you named it…Sebastian?"

"sure, why not", responded A2, then smiled back at her.

"J-Just watch.", whispered R4 before she covered her face in shame.

The Pod that had been floating behind A2 was now laying on the floor, In the center of the room.

"what am I watching exact-"

The Pod exploded into a shower of black energy before reassembling itself into the shape of a crow.

[ **Specialized Combat unit, code: Sebastian, ready for deployment.]**

"BADASS!", A2's scream could be heard throughout the entire bunker.

* * *

After hours of conversation with the commander, 2B and 9S found out that over 70% of the YoRHa personnel in the bunker died during the descent to earth, leaving the number of remaining YoRHa personnel in existence in the 4-digit area. The bunker itself, although not visually obvious, was badly damaged, the commander said that she hoped to leave the bunker behind, and start a new headquarters on the mainland, since it was only a matter of time before the entire Bunker sank to the depths of the ocean.

The Commander also told them about her survival, apparently during her last few seconds of sanity, she uploaded her data into a nearby flight suit, it had been a gamble, since she wasn't sure if anyone else had done the same thing.

"I see, smart thinking on your part commander.", Praised 9S as his eyes became filled with admiration.

"risky move, but I agree nevertheless", added 2B who nodded in agreement.

Pod 042 suddenly appeared in between the chatting androids, their conversation being abruptly cut short by an alarm indicating an urgent message

"open it", ordered 2B.

a floating video interface appeared in front of their eyes, revealing an extremely bloody and damaged Anemone.

[ **to any scouts still on patrol! Do not return to the camp! I repeat, do not return to the camp. The camp has been lost, I repeat. This is a code red transmission, do NOT return to base. 2B, 9S, if you're out there, I'm sorry…they took Emil.** ], the video then cut to a burning resistance camp, corpses littered the main entrance, apparently everyone had tried to exit through the main gates, causing it to become congested, trapping everyone inside.

2B and 9S looked at each other in disbelief, they opened their mouths to speak but nothing would come out, they had been so set on returning to the bunker that they completely forgot about Emil and the resistance.

Commander white, who had also watched the video, placed a hand on her forehead to think. "how did this happen, we destroyed the twins…"

* * *

A2 clenched her fists as the video in front of her finished playing.

"Emil…", she opened her mouth slightly as she grinded her teeth together in anger, R4 noticed this, but what caught her attention wasn't her anger, it was the look of fury in her eyes.

* * *

2B and 9S quickly left the table and made way for the hangar, only to be intercepted by A2 as they passed the medic wing.

At that moment no words had to be said, the group simply nodded at each other and dashed off as fast as they could to the nearest flight suits.

* * *

Anemone stared in horror as her men were mowed down without much effort, a mountain of limbs quickly forming around her.

"out of the way, your sacrifices are unnecessary, we only need the woman.", the feminine masked figure extended her arms to the side, causing her twin swords to materialize into her palms.

"you won't take our leader!", screamed an armor-clad resistance member as he rushed towards the masked figure with a makeshift spear.

"may you find peace on your next life then, farewell.", the masked figure simply stepped aside, quickly dodging the resistance member's attack. Once she regained her balance, she let her swords back right through his arms, causing them to go flying into the air.

"gaaaah!", the resistance member screamed and fell to his knees, only to be decapitated instantly by his attacker.

Anemone's legs gave out as her last guard was killed, her eyes turning to the ground, not wanting to face her inevitable doom.

"you played a part on our brothers' deaths, I will take my time with you", spoke the masked figure who cleaned her blades by swinging them to the side, splashing blood and innards onto Anemone's lap.

Anemone felt the end drawing near, her eyes closing slowly as the crunching of her attacker's feet on the rocky surface of the floor drew close.

"suffer", the masked woman quickly swung her swords in the direction of Anemone's midsection, hoping to split her in half using a single motion.

As her swords were about to contact Anemone's exposed flesh, a bullet hit the central edge of the sword, causing her to lose her grip on it. "what the!?"

Without a word Anemone saw A2 drop from the sky, her feet landing right on the masked figure's face, causing her body to become buried in the ground. A2 quickly jumped out of the crater, sword in hand.

"I know you're still functional, get your ass out here.", the A unit slammed her foot into the ground, causing multiple cracks to appear. "I'm going to take my time with you."

A massive pillar of light shot out of the crater, causing Anemone to be flung backwards unto a wall, A2 simply planted her sword into the ground to remain in place.

"y-you dare raise your hand against your liberator!?", the masked figure shot out of the crater in a blur, straight into A2's face, her black sword pointed to A2's neck while her white counterpart made its way towards her stomach.

A2 squeezed the grip of her Type-40 sword, causing everything around her to explode into streaks of lightning. "I need to borrow your strength once more…I'm sorry", she said as she noticed another crack forming on the metal blade.

The masked figure landed on her knees, quickly launching herself towards A2 once her balance was sufficient. Her black sword meeting cold metal as she missed her target. A2 grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face into the ground, causing the masked woman's body to go limp.

"where is he", hissed the silver haired A unit. She brought the limp body of the masked attacker back up to the surface, once it was removed from the crater, her swords fell from her hands.

"do It witch! Finish me as you did my brothers, I will hunt you down for all eternity if I have to!", barked the wounded woman, causing blood to ooze from the bottom of her mask.

"I really don't know what you're talking about, nor do I care, but I'll tell you something…", she placed her hand on the mask covering her attackers face and squeezed as hard as she could, causing it to explode into a shower of metal shards. Underneath the mask was the face of a young woman, her eyes light blue like the skies in a summer day, her lips a light shade of pink.

"you're about to die, a very, very, painful death. And I want you to know, I'm going to enjoy every. Single. Second. Of. It.", A2's eyes grew wider she her face came closer to her attacker's, a demonic grin forming on her lips as she teased her target's exposed stomach with the edge of her sword.

"guards! Protect me!", cried out the now unmasked woman as she wiggled in A2's grip.

A2 laughed manically, leaning backward as her laugher descended more and more into madness.

The masked woman's eyes grew wide, her body beginning to shiver in terror at the sudden realization. "I-Impossible, I had nearly 2000 robots under my command"

A2 arched her body back forward, pressing her forehead into the blue haired girl's face, a slight red glow forming in her eyes.

"you should have brought more."


	9. EX chapter: A Night to Remember

Bunker: 4 days before A2's recovery

Housing Complex

"S…9s"

A voice amidst the darkness awakens me from my rest, coming to my sense slowly I choose to look around the room. The steady beeping of the monitors hooked up to A2's lifeless body litter the room with their repetitive tunes.

The moonlight bleeds through a half-closed curtain on the edge of the room, illuminating the surroundings with a silver cloud of tranquility, and then at the door, I see her standing there. 2B, her blindfold nowhere to be seen, allowing her blue eyes to shine in the midst of the void atmosphere around us.

"I'm here, sorry, what happened?", I ask taking off my blindfold to allow my eyes some freedom.

"nothing I just…wanted some company, it's nearly midnight and everyone else has already gone to their rooms, we should head out soon."

"is that so? Sorry I must have not noticed the time. Ill head over to my room soon."

"do you…want to come with me instead?"

The sudden realization at what had just been suggested causes my mind to spring into action, my feet moving by themselves; forcing me into a standing position.

"I-um-we", the words fight their way out of my mind in the masses. Pitch and fork in hand they probe at my mind to speak clearly, to speak the truth.

"I understand if you would prefer different board arrangements, it was merely a…suggestion", the clear disappointment in her voice causes me to wince internally. Despite everything that had happened up to this point, I still feared what would happen between us if the chance was given. The mere thought of our current boundaries expanding was rather fearsome to be truthful.

I considered her to be beyond what someone would normally define as a 'treasure', she had become a part of me, a part of my daily life, and the thought of that slipping away was something that ate away at me often. So often that one could almost consider it a phobia of mine.

Ironic isn't it.

To be afraid of loving the one person in the world that loves you back, equally; if not more.

Against my judgement I force a smile and move my head to face her.

"I'll accompany you"

The joyful smile that followed caught me by surprise, no evasion enhancement chips would have allowed me to dodge the hit that had on my heart.

"here we are", she declares with a spring in her feet.

Here we are indeed, I find myself standing in front of her room once again after so long. It isn't the first time I've been in here, after all, as 2B's partner unit, it was my duty to perform regular checkups and tests on her to ensure maximum performance on the field.

But this time it felt completely different.

She takes a firm hold of my hand and steps in, a familiar aroma clouds my mind as I follow her steps. I never thought I would ever see this place again, much less spend a night in it. With her no less.

"I'll be right back, please take a seat, I won't be long.", she commands, pushing me down onto the bed by the shoulders.

"y-yes Ma'am", I reply instinctively.

"I told you to stop calling me that", she replies with a careless smile, probably remembering all the times I called her that on the field.

Soon after, she disappears into a smaller room, probably her closet. I wasn't too sure, I was too busy fixing up her bed, which hadn't been done in months.

After I'm done making the bed presentable, I take off my gloves and run my hand through the bed sheets. Letting the soft feeling overwrite the sense of worry I've been feeling for the past few days.

"I-I'm coming out, ok?", her voice calls out to me from the other side of the unknown room, she's clearly scared about something. Worry starts to build up inside me once again, was she wounded recently? Is she okay?

"hey are you-"

The door opens, revealing a woman I've never seen before. The amount of maturity and beauty emanating from her overwhelms my senses. Rendering me speechless.

The god-like figure standing before me is indeed 2B, her hair pulled back into a pony tail, with one side being left out to cover her left eye, her black combat dress is nowhere to be seen, replaced by a white t-shirt with the YoRHa symbol embedded on the front, her lower body, now missing it's skirt, instead is covered by some tight looking sweatpants.

"is it…weird?", she asks as she looks at me with a deep blush on her face.

I blink multiple times to dig myself out of the daze and cover my eyes as she begins walking forward towards me, the curves of her body becoming more and more defined as the moonlight begins to wrap itself around her.

"n-no! you look…great", I whisper in a panic, trying not to shout and wake up all the neighboring units.

And then.

Silence.

Too much silence, to be exact, after a couple of seconds without detecting movement I whisper at the darkness, my eyes still covered by my hands.

"2B?"

"yes?", she replies immediately.

"what are you doing"

"I'm standing in front of you", she replies playfully.

"I can see that…but why"

"you can't actually, since your eyes are covered, therefore, it's impossible for you to say that you can see me"

The sound of silent footsteps dancing around the room can be heard, and then the sound of something falling.

"what was that, are you ok!?", I whisper loudly, my hands ready to separate from my eyes.

"that was my shirt", she replies in a slow and playful way.

"what!?", my body tenses up and curiosity begins to process within my mind.

The sound of cloth hitting the floor makes itself known once again.

"and those are my pants."

"please stop…", clear discomfort showing through my words. Although I can't see her, I can tell that 2B was hurt by these words.

"why? Do you not find me attractive?", she replies with a mixture of worry and anger.

"that's not it", I reply defensively.

"then what is it, why won't you look at me.", her agitation making itself more known the more she speaks.

"because…you're important to me"

"then look", she commands as she forces my hands away from my eyes, revealing a fully clothed 2B. "I knew you would do this, but I wanted to test you anyway.", she smiles at me and kisses my forehead.

"ah-b-but your clothes", I rub my eyes to make sure the light isn't playing tricks on me.

She giggles and flicks my forehead with her middle finger. "towels, pervert."

I smile back at her and let out a sigh of relief. "thank goodness."

"let's head to bed, its already 2 in the morning"

"sounds like a plan", I reply, glad that the craziness is over.

"hey…2B", I whisper at the darkness.

"yes?", she replies instantly.

"Is this…necessary?

In the middle of the night, 2B took the liberty to hug me tight against her, burying her face on my chest. I could feel every single part of her against me, revealing a world I wasn't planning to visit quite just yet.

"yes", she replies without sparing a second once again, moving even closer to me. "I can't sleep quite just ye anyways. Something is yet to be done."

"what would that be?", I ask, genuinely curious.

"look at me", she commands.

I do as told and look down at my chest, where 2B's face rests. A smile forms around her lips as our eyes meet, causing me to blush in embarrassment.

"ok, now what?", I ask nervously, our gaze still connected.

"this", she lifts herself up slowly, showing her cleavage as her upper body comes closer to mine.

"Umm-umph!", her lips meet mine forcefully, causing me to exhale in surprise.

She finally separates from me after embracing me for what seemed an eternity. A line of saliva forming as our mouths separate slowly. She smiles as she notices this and breaks it in two using her index finger before licking it clean.

"goodnight", she whispers before retreating back into my chest.

"y-yeah", I reply as I lay my head back into the pillow, staring at the ceiling.


	10. Crimson Fade

The sounds of explosions and crumbling buildings echoed throughout the empty streets of the fallen city, debris and dust covered the sunken harbor, reducing vision to near arm's-length. Once receiving the distress signal from Anemone, the group immediately set course for the city, using the closest flight suits they could find inside the bunker's damaged hangar. A2 however, was nowhere to be seen, given that she had been the first to fly out.

[ **four minutes until contact, what's the plan?],** asked 9S over the radio.

2B closed her eyes and tried to come up with a plan that would reduce the number of casualties on the ground, despite fighting against the idea, commander white issued 2 groups composed of 10 YoRHa combat units each to head into battle with them. 9S gaining command of squad A, while 2B was given command of squad B, R4 was in charge of on-site repairs.

2B took a deep breath and opened her communications channel, syncing it with all nearby units. [ **squad A will make contact with the enemy at the desert border, from there you will clear a path to the radio tower and maintain position outside of the camp, R4 will be going with you. squad B will land at the sunken harbor and attempt to rescue any fleeing allies and wounded we find. From there we will rendezvous with squad A and break into the camp. Anemone is our main rescue target, if located inform your squad mates immediately. Be warned about infected YoRHa combat units from the first wave, as they are still present threats in our field of operations.]**

[ **roger.]** , was all the listening units said before that all increased their speed.

* * *

A2 jumped from rooftop to rooftop, trying her best to reach the camp as soon as possible, underneath the buildings was a sea of cannibal machines, tearing apart any anime, corpse or piece of machinery they ran into.

"Sebastian, where is Anemone.", she asked midair before landing onto the next building.

[ **the source of the SOS signal is within sight, however I am not detecting any movement or fighting in the area.],** responded the crow perched on her right shoulder.

A2 stopped at the last building which was overlooking the waterfall outside of the resistance camp, the front gates had been smashed open and multiple cannibal machines were struggling to wiggle into the base through the tiny gap. Sounds of gunfire and small explosions could be heard from within the base, signaling that there were at least **some** survivors.

"enemy count?", questioned A2 to the crow on her shoulder before materializing her Type-40 sword with an explosion of light.

[ **246 within 150 meters, there are at least 477 more approaching from the north and a small group of 30 is struggling to reach the surface below us.]**

"and Pascal's village?"

**[surrounded, multiple goliath class enemies are being detected on the radar.]**

"what about pascal, is she there"

**[negative]**

"good" whispered A2 to herself before diving head first into the sea of machines below her, sword in hand.

* * *

Squads A and B reached the city shortly after 2B's orders had been given out.

[ **be safe out there ok?]** , said 9S before flying off with his squad towards the desert border. 2B simply nodded at him from within her flight suit.

Upon reaching the sunken harbor, squad B landed their flight suits and exited them quickly. The harbor itself had been heavily damaged from the attack, hundreds of rampaging machines could be seen in the distance. 2B took a minute to look around and try to see if anyone she knew had been assigned to her squad. She saw M16 in the back, her usual lab coat being replaced with standard issue YoRHa combat suit, she mainly recognized her because of her spiky, green hair. Beside her was D14, the defense model that had stopped them when they entered the Bunker. A white hairband kept her hair into a neat Ponytail on the back, which was long enough to reach her tailbone area.

"I never would have thought that the person I mistook for an intruder would end up bossing me around a couple days later", said D14 as she nudged 2B's side with her elbow. "things just keep getting more interesting by the second huh?

The rest of the squad was composed of units she'd never met before.

"all long-range attack units take position on the nearby rooftops and provide support for the defense class units as we attempt to break the enemy formation."

Two blonde girls stepped in front of 2B and saluted before introducing themselves. Their bodies and proportions were identical, even their faces were the same, their haircuts and eye color was what made them different however, they both had short, neck-length hair with bangs covering one of their eyes, one of the girls had green eyes, while the other had bright, blue eyes.

The one with green eyes spoke first, her hair covering her right eye "special forces unit, class X, Codename Snow.", she said, before bowing and materializing a heavily modified CheyTac M200 which was painted completely white.

The one with blue eyes stepped forward and repeated Snow's introduction almost completely, her hair covering her left eye. "special forces unit, class X. Codename Violet.", upon finishing her introduction she bowed like Snow had done and extended her hand forward, materializing a heavily modified Barrett M82, which had multiple purple accents near the stock.

"we are under your command.", they both said before loading a bullet into each of their weapons' respective chambers.

"I guess it's my turn again.", said D14 as she stood beside the twins. She extended both of her arms in front of her, one arm creating a massive shield while the other created an extremely sharp looking spear. "Defense class, name's D14."

The green haired girl broke through the crowd of people and bowed to 2B, "you know me haha, medic class, name's M16, I'll oversee the team's well-being. I look forward to a successful mission."

2B bowed back to each member before materializing her own sword in front of her, "it is a great pleasure to work with you all, let us finish this quickly." Once she was done she nodded to the twins who rushed towards some nearby buildings, climbing them effortlessly before radioing that their positions were ready. D14 was next, she slammed her shield into the ground and extended it into a Person-length slab of metal.

"let's go, all units advance!", shouted 2B as she rushed forward slicing machines along the way, the twins could be heard firing behind her while D14 ran beside her, shoving machines away with her massive shield.

* * *

Not too far away, A2 had just finished destroying the machines outside of the resistance camp, hundreds of metallic corpses laid atop of each other around her.

"any more?", asked A2, her left cheek covered in a mixture of oil and blood.

[ **negative, all surrounding hostiles neutralized, units 2B and 9S have arrived within city limits however, should I signal our location?],** asked the crow which was now flying beside her. Its wings covered in oil and blood as well.

"that's fine, set up a beacon here so they know where to go."

[ **understood],** said Sebastian before shooting a laser up into the sky.

A2 looked at the laser before cleaning her sword and heading into the now destroyed camp. "unto the next part." She said to herself as she slashed some debris out of her way.

* * *

Squad A was attacked as soon as they landed, hundreds of Goliath class robots had made their way to the city from within the desert. Thankfully R4 was unharmed, the rest of them weren't so lucky however. 2 members had been heavily wounded, those units being 98B and 67B, two red haired B units that had rushed in front of the group to protect the others at the time of the attack.

"damn it…Medic!", shouted 9S amidst the gunfire and explosions.

"coming! Please state your location!", shouted another voice from within the chaos of battle.

"sending signal now." Replied 9S, shortly after a short girl, much like R4 landed beside him, creating cracks on the pavement under her.

Once she was able to spot the wounded soldiers she rushed towards them, taking a knee beside 9S as she applied multiple gels to their wounds using her pod, which had a cross laid on its midsection. "I'm here leader, please leave these two to me.", she said before smiling and nodding to 9S. 9S nodded back with a concerned look on his face before turning around towards the battle ahead.

"where is A2?!" shouted R4 as she fired multiple bullets into the mass of robots using Naga, who had turned into a mounted machinegun to allow her small body to withstand the recoil.

"outside of the camp! She just cleared the area we just have to reach her!", 9S shouted back, trying to dodge enemy attacks while he took multiple glances back at R4 to make sure no enemies were around her.

* * *

A2 wondered through the deserted streets of the resistance camp, multiple corpses littered the street, some headless, some missing multiple limbs, but none were torn apart like the victims of the cannibal machines usually were, which meant there were none inside of the base yet.

Sword in hand, the silver haired android sprinted from corner to corner, trying to maintain a high level of stealth.

"any readings?", whispered A2 as she peeked around a corner trying to find a sign of life.

[ **one hostile reading and 27 allied readings, 14 now, the hostile target has just eliminated some allied signals.]**

A2 looked back at the crow on her shoulder in surprise, "already? That wasn't even a second."

[ **positive, the hostile target is showing readings more powerful than a Colossal Goliath class robot.]**

A2 tightened her grip around her blade and began climbing the tent in front of her.

As she reached the top she was startled to find the girl from her earlier dream there, the same crimson flower still on her hand. She smiled and brought her hand up to her lips as if to silence A2 before she could say anything. She then bent down and caressed A2's cheek with extreme care before uttering a set of words.

" **if she dies, so do we**."

And with that she was gone, with a blink of the eye, her existence disappeared and A2 was left staring at open sky with a look of awe and shock on her face.

"S-Sebastian who was just here!?"

[ **impossible to measure, there have been no close-range signals]**

"what…"

**If she dies, so do we.**

The words echoed within A2's mind, as she stared down at the courtyard she could see Anemone down on the ground, an unknown blue haired girl slowly making her way towards her, blades in hand.

A2 was about to jump before a sharp pain cracked her focus, she bent backwards clutching her head as hard as she could, screaming as the pain grew stronger and stronger. Sebastian flew in front of her trying to understand what was happening to its user.

[ **do you require medical assistance],** asked the crow before A2 arched her body forward in a violent motion, a glow of red hidden beneath her bright blue eyes. Without a split second of hesitation A2 jumped off into the distance, landing right on top of the blue haired attacker. While A2 was still in the air, Sebastian took the chance to shoot the blades out of the blue haired girl's hands.


	11. Hope

"you should have brought more"

A2's whisper echoed through the torn streets of the fallen camp, a shiver ran down the blue haired girl's back as the face of her attacker became clearer under the sun light. Her eyes were lifeless and void of attention, almost as if she wasn't there, her mouth laid slightly agape, a malicious grin forming on the end of her mouth.

Without warning A2 leapt into action, sword in hand. It didn't take even a second for her sword to reach its target. The blue haired girl screamed in horror as the blade dug itself deep into her left shoulder, slicing her bones along the way.

"W-WAIT! PLEASE!", begged the impaled girl as she attempted to crawl away from the frenzied A2. Her words were ignored however, the silver demon had already grabbed her by the throat, attempting to squeeze any ounce of life she had left in her.

I don't think she'd like you doing this, you know?

A2's eyes seemed to regain focus, as if she had just been awakened from a distant dream, her hand slowly letting go of the wounded blue haired girl, she fell to the ground with a loud thud before screaming in pain once again when her shoulder hit the ground, expanding the wound from its initial size.

"are you ok, A2?", Asked Anemone, who had managed to quietly walk towards the petrified soldier. A2 turned around slowly, tears running down her face, she didn't seem to react to her current emotion however, it was a silent pain, one without sobs and screaming. Her yes told her everything she needed to know however, they were the eyes of someone who was afraid of herself, not the horror around her.

A2 simply nodded and fell to her knees, letting her sword fall violently to the ground with a loud 'CLANK'.

"I'm alright...", whispered A2 before a group of YoRHa flight suits flew overhead, their arrival causing all cloth in the vicinity to shake violently against the wind. Anemone and the blue haired girl exchanged glances before one of the Flight suits landed directly in between them. the front of the suit opened slowly, revealing a short, blonde soldier.

[Extraction target located! All units regroup at beacon 2311], spoke R4 into her transmitter before exiting her suit. Once she hit the ground, she immediately dashed towards A2, tripping many times along the way. Once she finally had her in her arms, R4 tightly Hugged A2's face onto her shoulder section, making sure that she couldn't see the area around her anymore.

"I'm so glad you're ok…you're still here", whispered the weeping blonde into A2's ear, causing her to slowly lift her arms onto her back and return the hug.

"it'll take more than that to get rid of my ass", replied the white-haired soldier as she began laughing silently.

The blue haired girl watched the scene before her with awe, she had prompted herself against the wall of a nearby building. Her right hand clutching her left shoulder, attempting to lessen her bleeding.

It only took 4 minutes for the rest of the YoRHa soldiers to arrive. Anemone sighed in relief since nobody seemed too badly hurt, except for 2 red haired combat units who were covered in bandages.

"what happened here", asked D14 as she retracted her shield with a single, upward motion.

"we were hit while the guards were changing shifts, there were no enemies except for…her, however.", replied Anemone before lifting her index finger to point at the blue haired girl. D14 narrowed an eyebrow as she stared at the wounded girl for a solid minute before returning her gaze towards Anemone for confirmation.

"she did all this, yes.", replied anemone as she nodded slowly.

"wow, she must be packing some serious firepower in that small body.", said D14 as she scratched the back of her head nervously.

"she will be escorted back to the bunker; however, she will remain in the custody of my group.", said 2B as she walked past them, sword in hand.

"who is behind the attack", asked 2B as she pressed the wound using her thumb, causing the blue haired girl to wince in pain.

"w-we don't know his name! he's never told us who he is! Please stop! Ahhh!", the blue haired girl recoiled physically as 2B's thumb buried itself within her open wound.

"we?", said 2B as she extracted her thumb from the wound, slowly.

The blue haired girl let out a gasp of relief before responding, "there's 5 of us, my name is hope, I work alongside 2 others by the names of Shizue and Ripper. Our main objective today was to annihilate anyone and everyone in this camp, my companions seem to have vanished amongst the fights outside, so I can't really tell you where they are right now, I'm sorry."

"it is fine, your information will be put to good use, however I cannot guarantee your safety past this point. Your involvement on the attack, plus the fact you successfully killed majority of the resistance forces in this part of the city won't be overlooked by the commander.", responded 2B as she sighed in annoyance. Finally releasing the wounded girl from her iron grip, she could see a hint of relief in her eyes.

the other YoRHa soldiers were doing their best to dispose of the lingering corpses around the market street. D14 was in the distance, near the end of the market street, 5 corpses on top of each other, laid neatly in a pile on her right shoulder. Slightly to her right were the twins, their rifles nowhere to be seen, they sat next to each other, staring off into the infinite horizon above. In the middle of the market square was M16, the medic unit ran frantically from corpse to corpse trying to find anyone who could be saved, no matter how little the chance of success.

"70 percent", said a voice from behind the thinking 2B

"huh?", she said as she turned around, only to be greeted by an angered 9S.

"70 percent, that's the amount of people from the total population of this camp that died.", he replied in a cold, defeated voice. He began to tighten his hands into fists as soon as the blue haired menace came into his field of voice. "and it's all…BECAUSE OF HER", he roared as he began dashing towards the wounded girl.

UMPH

9S crashed in A2, who had nearly, almost instantaneously, dashed into his path of attack.

"I'm glad that you're upset about the loss of life that occurred today, but don't go getting ahead of yourself kid. Stand down, that is an order, and it is final.", said A2 as she glared down at the downed S unit.

"y-you're protecting HER!? Are you thinking straight? She just killed thousands of innocent resistance members!", barked 9S in return, his eyes filled with fury and anger. He let his right hand go limp before materializing a sword with an explosion of light. "if you won't do it, then I will. Now move out of my way."

"of all the days that you could have grown a pair, it had to be today.", sighed A2 as she picked up a discarded spear from the ground, making sure to remove the blade from it.

2B tried to jump in between them, only to be stopped by 9S's pod unit.

[please do not interrupt the user's actions.]

"but!", she pleaded, trying her best to look past the pod at the 2 figures in the distance.

[please do not interrupt], repeated pod 153.

"you're going to fight me with a stick? You really are delusional", 9S was grinning at the sight of A2 holding the blade-less spear. His victory assured in his mind.

"you have a good point, I don't even need this actually.", replied A2 as she threw the stick unto the ground. Her face expressionless. Almost predatory.

"I wouldn't mind killing you again.", spoke 9S under his breath. Without a second of hesitation he charged forward towards the unarmed A2.

9S was less than 4 inches away from contact before A2 disappeared into a cloud of dust.

"what the!?", yelled 9s as his blade met nothingness.

"see, there's one big difference between me and the rest of you.", mocked A2's voice from within the mist of sand.

9S's eyes grew wide in fear, his hands shaking as his grip on the sword became tighter. He spun around, his sword ready to strike at a second's notice. A hand reached out from the dust, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"I don't need a pod to fight…and kill.", hissed A2 as she kicked the sword out of 9S's hand, the sword exploding into light in midair before reappearing behind on his back. He quickly tried to rearm himself but was met by A2's fist, which knocked him unconscious instantaneously.

2B, who had finally been let through by Pod 153 came rushing to 9S's aid, cradling his head on her lap. A look of disappointed on her face. Disappointed and pain.

"why did you do that you idiot…", she whispered as she brought her forehead to his.

A2's eyes grew wide as she noticed Hope had been watching the entire time. The blue haired girl hesitated before slowly walking towards the group, once she was close to them she took a deep bow and hung her head low. "I am extremely sorry for my actions, I was told that your people were a cult of crazed machines that were trying to break into one of the bird cages. It seems I have been…tricked".

A2 and 2B looked at each other before nodding in approval.

"we understand, we'll look into this but for the time being we have to put you into criminal custody.", replied 2B.

A2 crossed her arms and leaned against a fallen piece of rubble. "nothing will happen to you, I'll talk to the commander, as much as I don't want to. Anyway, what was that about us trying to break into some cage?"

"you people do not know about project Phoenix?", replied Hope in awe.

A2 and 2B looked at each other in case one of the two knew about it.

"no."


	12. Hyper Tension

"Y-You're messing with us, right?", asked a deeply agitated A2, her knees almost giving out from the bomb of knowledge she had just been given. Humans, alive, and close to their location no less. A2 closed her eyes and let herself fall to the ground in relief, a massive weight apparently lifted from her shoulders.

"you better not be lying, or I swear I'll kill you a million times over.", she finished before giving an honest smile to the blue haired girl.

"I'm not", she replied, returning the smile A2 gave her. "they're down there, I made sure they're safe."

"if what you're saying is true, and they are indeed underground, how did the bunker's radar not pick it up?", asked 2B who was still carefully tending to 9S's wounds, his head on her lap.

"I was wondering when you would ask that, the answer isn't so simple, so it may sound made up", replied Hope as she stood up, dusting off her clothes in the process. "you're familiar with the event of June 12, 2003, correct?"

"the appearance of the giant and the red dragon, correct?", replied a now conscious 9S, his hand on his forehead.

A2 felt a sharp pain to her chest as the red dragon was mentioned, however she did her best to hide it form the present audience.

"that's correct, for unknown reasons, shortly after their appearance on this world, they began to fight. At around 4PM the same day, the giant fell due to a direct attack from the red dragon, as it fell from the sky it shattered into pieces before hitting the ground, which thankfully made collateral damage to the city minimal. Immediately after the fall of the giant, an aerial tactical squadron was sent to eliminate the remaining threat: the red dragon. Their mission ended in success and the corpse of the red dragon was taken by the government for testing. The event was covered up of course, but those are the true events."

"what does telling us all that have anything to do with the humans we are talking about right now?", asked a slightly confused and overwhelmed A2, 2B simply nodded along with her question to signal her mutual confusion.

"the outer structure of the Cage Bunker was created using parts of the fallen dragon, a lot of the humans inside the facility were also injected with a dose of the dragon's blood. The entire facility served another purpose before the gestalt project began. Before it was converted into the cryo-cage bunker it is now, it used to be one of the leading Anti-WCS research facilities."

"WCS?", asked 2B with a slight tilt to her head.

"White Chlorination Syndrome", responded 9S as he looked up at 2B from below her.

2B simply blushed and cleared her throat once she realized 9S had been watching her this entire conversation.

A2 noticed the two and facepalmed before throwing a rock at 2B's head, the shot was successful. The pebble rolled on the ground after striking 2B's forehead. "can you not", growled at the two before returning her gaze to Hope.

The blue haired woman simply giggled at the sight unraveling before her, she covered her mouth in a very high-class manner as she laughed silently. "you bunch really are closely knit together, aren't you?"

A2 coughed in disgust at the thought of her ending up like the two love-demons. "absolutely not! I hate these two perverts!"

"perverts?", asked the two clueless soldiers beside her.

"I've seen you two hold hands under the tables and in…in…IN PUBLIC!", yelled back a deeply blushing A2.

"is there something wrong with holding hands? If I remember correctly, it was simply a form of affection used by humans. If I'm wrong I guess I can just ask a real one soon enough", responded 2B, still slightly confused at A2's behavior.

"that's how children are born you sex-fiends!", yelled back A2 as she crawled away from the two lovers slowly.

"huh…?", asked everyone in unison.

"I read it on a book, so it has to be true! The humans would never lie about how their own species procreated!", said A2

9S simply shook his head and looked at A2 with a concerned look. "did this 'book' happen to have pictures with cutesy characters?"

"so, you know of the holy texts!?", replied A2 in awe.

"about that…", continued 9S as he rubbed the back of his head.

* * *

After being given a rapid-fire course on how humans reproduced, A2 decided it was time for a VERY long walk, on a rainy night, in a cold forest…right down a bridge.

While A2 finished contemplating her end, R4 appeared out of the corner of the street, her armor replaced by her usual clothing. A black tank-top paired with combat pants and combat boots.

"hey guys! It's been a little while.", she said as she took a seat next to the internally-dead A2. "what's wrong with A2?"

"don't ask", replied 2B and 9S in unison.

"gotcha, then I won't.", said R4 as she giggled. She soon realized the new comer and extended her hand to the blue haired woman. "I don't think we've met yet, I'm R4", she said as she introduced herself with a bright smile

The blue haired girl took her hand and shook it gently. "the pleasure is all mine, I'm Hope."

"I like that name, and it's meaning", said R4 before making her way back to A2's side.

"you seem very close to her, have you all known each other for a long time?", asked Hope as she looked at the group, now that all members were present.

"not exactly, me and 2B have been on a number of missions together before all this but I'd say we've known each other the longest.", replied 9S.

"agreed, A2 didn't join us until the fall of the tower, but we did meet her before then, as enemies. R4 was the last to join, she was one of the few survivors of YoRHa's first wave against Adam and Eve.", answered 2B.

"I hope much like A2, I can become an ally despite my actions…", said Hope with a hint of shame and sadness.

"we think you will, I don't think you're a bad person.", said R4, which surprised Hope.

"but i-"

"did all this right?", continued R4 as she stretched her arms wide. "we know, but you must have had some reason to do all this, I've been eavesdropping this conversation for a while, and from what I heard. You really love those kids down there. You did this because you thought we were a threat to them right? Or at least, that's what the masked guy told you."

"that's right. I would have never harmed anyone had the lie never been told.", replied Hope with a nod.

"then how about this: you didn't do this.", said R4 with a wink.

"what do you mean?", asked 2B.

"you're the leader of the mission, right? Then just tell command that the attack was organized by machines, and not her. Tell them she's a survivor of the attack instead.", replied R4.

"we can't do that, that would be falsification of mission data.", said 2B with a concerned look on her face.

"I agree, we have to come up with a REALLY good reason for the commander to not execute her.", said a voice from behind them, which turned out to be M16, the green haired Medic unit.

"is everyone listening in on us today or what.", growled a deeply annoyed A2, who had just regained her senses.

D14, who had been listening the whole time on the roof of the building behind them, landed with a shockwave in the middle of everyone, spear and shield in hand. "who is listening in? SPIES!?"

A drop of sweat materialized on the back of everyone's head, except for A2's, who had steam around her from the scorching anger and annoyance within her. "I'm so done with all of you."

* * *

**Geographical location classified.**

**Bunker/ 3 hours after the success of YoRHa's retaliation against the attack on the resistance camp.**

"report.", ordered commander white in a business-like tone.

"the retaliation was a success; all enemy forces were dealt with. Squads A and B received no casualties but some of the members were heavily damaged and needed repairs.", responded 2B.

"was the desert outpost attacked as well?", asked commander white.

"no, jackass's outpost was empty once we arrived, we assume that she took her members along with her on a supply run in the desert.", replied 9S.

"hm. Ok, and the casualties of the camp?", continued commander white.

9S looked down in shame and spoke his answer quietly, but loud enough to be heard. "70 percent of the population."

Commander white's eyes went wide at his answer, her hands rolled into fists once her fury started to show. "and who is responsible.", she growled.

"I am, Ma'am.", said a hooded figure who had been standing behind 9S and 2B this entire time, she removed her hood which allowed her blue hair to flow freely once again.

"and who exactly are you.", interrogated commander white.

"Hope.", replied the blue haired girl with a hint of shame in her answer.

"hope huh? Is this some kind of sick joke to you? What's your real name, and this time make sure its not a damn joke.", hissed the commander in response.

"that's her name, are you deaf white? It's been a while, but I don't think you're that stupid.", responded A2 who was standing on the rail of the Operator observation above them.

"number 2", whispered the commander before a laser appeared on her forehead. It appeared to be coming out of a bird perched on A2's right shoulder. The guards on each side of the commander looked at each other in worry as they realized there was no way to protect their target now.

"call me that one more time and I'll blow you to hell before you have time to say anything else.", hissed A2 with a murderous look on her face.

Commander white felt a slight tug to her coat which caused her to turn around. She was greeted by R4, who was looking at her, somewhat upset. "please don't upset her.", pleaded the R unit.

R4 let go of the commander and turned her gaze upwards toward the angered A2.

"A2 can you take me to the cafeteria? I'm really hungry…", she pleaded with puppy eyes.

A2 sighed and ordered Sebastian to stand down.

[ **understood, weapon systems deactivated.],** replied the crow.

"that's cheating you damn brat.", hissed A2 at the grinning R4.

"I learned from the best.", replied R4 with a smug face. A face so smug it could rival even A2's colossal amount of smugness.

"that you did.", replied A2 with a smile before taking the R unit's hand and leaving the room.

The remaining members in the room simply exhaled in relief.

"we may have just been saved by hunger.", joked 9S.

"no kidding.", replied commander white who had been sweating the entire time.

* * *

After a long discussion one Wether it was Hope's fault on the attack, it was ruled that Hope would not the punished for the attack, but in return she would have to provide every piece of knowledge she had about the surviving Humans. The group hesitantly agreed with the offer but were reassured when Hope whispered to them that she would know unveil anything that could be harmful to the humans in her care.

"and that concludes this debriefing, I look forward to hearing more about what you know miss Hope.", said commander white as she stretched and yawned.

"wait", said 9S before the commander walked out of the room.

"yes, 9S?", she replied quickly without turning around.

"we want custody of her. She's coming with us.", he replied, making sure to sound serious.

After a seemingly never-ending minute, commander white turned around with a serious look on her face.

"is this a personal request from you? Or is it what everyone told you to say.", she interrogated.

"it's my request, commander.", he replied.

"granted.", she responded with a smile before leaving the room. "I know you won't let me down."


	13. EX Chapter: Mimic

**I don't remember much of my past,**

**I find myself returning to an old story that's still lodged inside my memory.**

**Someone used to tell it to me all the time, although I don't remember who.**

**Or why.**

**It brings a sharp feeling into a chest,**

**As if I'd been stabbed repeatedly against my will.**

* * *

"you okay?", asks a voice from behind me. The voice belongs to none other than to my squad leader G19. me and the rest of the group call her 'mother' because of her caring nature towards us. our knowledge of humans was very limited, considering that most of the archives that held their knowledge were strictly locked away behind firewalls and multiple types of digital locks. Most of our education was mostly targeted towards our designations. G19 was a gunner, so most of her knowledge involved ballistics and physics. Oddly enough, I was never told my designation.

"I'm okay, leader. Thank you for your concern.", I replied with an honest smile. G19 had been one of the members that found me, they never speak of where and why they found me. I stopped caring a while ago.

'mother' wrapper her slender arms around my waist and held me close against her chest. "now, now. Don't go lying to me. Something is clearly bothering that smart little head of yours.", her praise brings a slight hue of red to my cheeks. The snake pendant along my neck begins to hum as my emotions become stronger.

"it's really nothing.", I whisper back.

Although I can't see her face, I can tell she is pouting fiercely. 'mother's' hair was a soft shade of pink, her body was slender and flexible, as well as very athletic looking. She was the oldest unit amongst us, she always told us of her feats during the first alien invasion on earth. She had been stationed in Greece, a place that longer existed.

"are you worried about our mission tomorrow?", she asks as she strokes my hair to the side. Her touch is gentle, and almost restrained. As if she's trying not to break me with her touch.

"a little bit, I don't have much battle experience at all compared to you and the rest of the group. I'd be nothing but a hindrance.", I reply with a sour tone.

**have I ever told you the story of the sunken city of Atlantis?**

**It's about a young mermaid warrior, who thinks she's the hero of Atlantis.**

**When in reality.**

**Through her attempts of saving her family and friends.**

**She destroys everything she wanted to protect.**

The phantom echoes of a woman ring through my head, causing my mind to contract into itself, giving me a massive headache. Instinctively I grab my head with both of my hands and begin to howl in pain. G19 can't help but to lay down beside me as I burst into tears, she slides her hand onto my cheek and begins singing an old word nursey rhyme.

Naga turns it's head up towards me in concern, it's bladed eyes slowly checking my facial expressions for signs of damage.

"she's having another attack isn't she, that's the 7th this week. What's commander white thinking? Sending her into combat in this condition", asks a black-haired woman from the corner of the room. The woman is another one of my teammates, R4. She's tall and slender, although her body Is badly scarred and worn out.

"sadly, we don't call the shots here R4, if that's what the commander thinks is best, then we'll simply have to oblige.", replied G19 with a hint of anger in her voice.

My blonde hair covers my face as I wipe the tears away from my eyes, the room becomes silent as I push myself to stand up.

"are you sure you want to go.", asks R4, a hint of worry in her voice. She tries to help me stand but I ignore her assistance.

"I'm going, I'll earn myself a name. I don't want to be a blank unit anymore, I want to be a part of this, I want to be one of you. I want to be…something.", I say as I bite my lip in anger, causing blood to trickle down my lips, unto my chin.

* * *

**_ Chania, Greece _ **

**_ 4 days after the successful retaliation of YoRHa units against the Alien attack. _ **

The winds of Greece blow the Pink hair of a silent figure away from her face, she stands tall atop a pile of destroyed machines. Multiple oil stains cover her cheeks, with small cuts covering the rest of her body. A silent Pod unit hovers around her, scanning the destroyed machines for possible data. A Massive great sword hovers behind her back.

**_operator 11O to G19, come in G19._ **

"this is G19, go ahead operator.", responds the Pink haired soldier.

**_the commander wants to congratulate you on your achievements today, your kill count has reached the 6-digit area. I hope you're not too tired, you've been assigned another mission._ **

"never too tired for a good fight.", she replies with a predatory grin. 11O can't help but shiver at the sight on her holographic monitor. "what am I killing this time."

**_s-sorry to disappoint G19 but this will be a retrieval mission._ **

The pink haired soldier almost breaks into a laughing fit at the response, her mouth lowering into a flat line. No emotion whatsoever resonates from her response. "have I really fallen so low that now I'm doing fetch quests for High Command?"

**_it's a very important package, the Bunker's radar has picked up a rather sizeable amount of jet fuel beneath you somewhere, its paramount that you find where it is. The fuel will prove vital on the tests for our future flight suits._ **

"fine, I'll contact you once I find anything noteworthy", responds the pink haired soldier before disappearing from the frame of 11O's monitor.

**_please be careful G19, don't be reckless._ **

"a woman has to enjoy herself somehow in this mess. Don't tell me what to do."

* * *

**_ Bunker, 16 hours until launch of YoRHa's first wave against Adam and Eve's forces _ **

"this goes without saying, but every single one of you is an important asset, and an important piece in the protection of humanity. Today will be our first attempt at retaking the city from the hands of Adam and Eve. You are hereby ordered to stay alive and succeed on your mission. GLORY TO MANKIND.", commander white salutes the rows of soldiers in front of her, they immediately salute back with great respect and yell at the top of their capabilities.

"GLORY TO MANKIND!"

Amongst the saluting figures stands a short, blonde haired girl. Her body mostly covered by a robe and her face covered by the hood of said robe. Commander white stares at the figure for a second before retreating downstairs, dismissing the soldiers along the way. She stops in front of the Blonde girl before exiting the room.

The girl's snake pendant lights up as she approaches her, her movements silently studied by unseen eyes.

"are you okay?", asks the commander in a quiet voice, as if wishing not to be heard.

"it feels like everyone is asking me that today. I'm fine, I'll make you proud down there, will you give me a name once I return?", responds the Blonde-haired girl as a hopeful smile appears on her lips.

"I'll figure something out.", says the commander as she quickly ruffles the blonde's hair and appears out of the room.

* * *

**_ Chania, Greece. _ **

**_ 6 hours after contact with operator 11O _ **

After destroying multiple machines along the way to the signals origin, G19 couldn't help but notice that the machines she had encountered weren't moving at all, they were perfectly still, scanning the horizons as if they were watching for something. Or someone.

"what the hell…I've never seen them this organized before.", spoke the pink haired girl to herself as she retrieved her great sword from a fallen Goliath class machine. "Pod, how far away are we from the signal's origin."

[ ** _approximately 4 miles northeast of our current location.]_**

G19 threw her great sword in the air, causing it to explode into a shower of yellow particles before it reappeared behind on her back, "what the hell are we going towards anyway, is it a building or what."

**_[records show that our destination is known as a Anti-WCS research facility.]_ **

"didn't know there was some still left standing, I thought we blew them all to high hell during the clean up missions."

**_[records suggest that this facility was not located until today, G19's mission is to extract the resources and destroy the facility in the process. All evidence of past experiments are to be erased.]_ **

"erased…right."

* * *

**_ Airspace over the fallen city, 34 minutes before final contact with Adam and Eve _ **

"let's go over the plan again alright?", G19 was in the front of both the blonde girl and R4, their flight suits slowing down to keep themselves perfectly aligned with their leader.

"R4 you keep the kid safe alright? Once we touch ground ill dash towards the entrance of the camp, you two take care of the sunken harbor alright? That's where the least number of hostile signals are.", G19 turned towards them and gave them a soft smile, she knew that ANY amount of hostiles would be a problem for the two inexperienced she was sending off to their possible doom, but nevertheless it was her duty as squad leader to issue the orders command gave her, no matter how much she hated it.

R4 cocked her head to the side, offended. Her hair covering her left eye due to the fierce wind they were flying against. "you're sending us to the rookie area? Are you serious? I have over 45 years of experience! You're crazy if you think I'm going to-", before she could finish her protest, R4 noticed the sad gaze of her leader trailing towards the silent blonde girl in the rear of their conversation. "f-fine"

**_ 20 minutes later _ **

R4 pulled her sword out of a fallen goliath class robot she had just destroyed; her clothes were in tatters from constantly having to protect the silent blonde. "you know, you could at least kill some of them for me, its getting tiring.", said R4 as she sighed a breath of frustration.

"I'm sorry R4, I'll try harder.", responded the blonde girl, completely out of breath from dodging enemy gunfire and stab attempts. As G19 had said, the sunken harbor was the tamest place of the current battlefields around them, even though they were miles away from the other locations, gunfire and screams could clearly be heard from within the city.

As the blonde girl propped herself up to stand her pendant detached itself from her and transformed into it's combat form.

**_[enemy signal incoming, deploying Data Shield.]_ **

A digital looking bubble immediately surrounded the blonde, the snake hovered slowly above her head, it's head looking around them, trying to find the source of the rogue signal.

"h-hey! What are you doing Naga!", cried out the now trapped blonde in protest.

"yeah! What the hell do you think you're doing! Let her out of there!", shouted R4 as she began punching the digital shield around the blonde girl.

**_[signal wave incoming, 3 miles, 2 miles, 1 mile. Contact.]_ **

An invisible wave of energy drove R4 to her knees, her eyes scrunching up in pain as multiple files of data were forcefully downloaded into her.

**_ALERT  
YoRHa anti-virus program deleted…check_ **

**_Personality files-: altered_ **

**_Engagement status: Aggressive_ **

**_Friendly Unit Module: Removed_ **

**_New orders: DesTRoy EveRYTHing_ **

**_Reb-b—b-bb-b-b-bbooyyyttt ComMMPLEETE_ **

R4 removed her blindfold as she felt herself disappear, every passing second it felt like she kept forgetting more and more about who she was and where she was. In a last attempt of survival R4 directed all of her remaining power towards her processing modules, allowing her to stay as herself for a little longer.

"R4 are you ok!? Naga stop this at once! Remove the shield!", shouted the blonde as she began punching the hovering snake atop her head.

**_[signal has passed, following new orders, complete.]_ **

The shield exploded in a swift cloud of blue particles. The blonde quickly ran towards her comrade who was now bashing her head against the floor fiercely. "what are you doing!? Stop it! Please stop it! You're hurting yourself!"

"I'm sorry kid, looks like this is as far as I go.", whispered the black-haired R unit as she slowly tilted her head towards the blonde. "take c-c-c-c-c-care of m—mosnt-mother okay-y-y?", her voice was cracky and it was failing to come out, her eyes were turning a deep dark shade of red. "i-i-iuuu-idds-I cant offer you m—muuuuch, but p-please, h-hide you-t-tr-rself."

"I'm not leaving your side! I'm sure G19 is on her way back already!", responded the blonde soldier in between tears, her hands tightly wrapped around her fallen companion's.

R4 bit her lip to lesser the pain as she brought her palm against the blonde girl's forehead.

"p-ppdp-pod, h-h-haaaa-hack, Initiate c-core transsss-sssfer", whispered R4 as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

**_[understood. Executing Core transfer, emergency wipe process finished. Beginning uplink with recipient unit.]_** , said R4's pod, which had sparks flying out of it, it struggled to stay afloat as it wobbled up and down in midair.

The blonde girl felt herself fall into a deep abyss before realizing that she was no longer in the sunken harbor, instead, she was now in a vast, empty, white room.

**_I'm sorry we have to leave you like this._ **

Huh?

**_When you wake up, you'll see horrible things. But please run._ **

Who are you?

**_Nobody anymore. Not that it matters._ **

R4…is that you? Why are you inside my head?

**_Because I want to be able to say goodbye._ **

Goodbye? Where are you going?

**_Home. I hope. I have a gift for you._ **

A gift? At a time like this?

**_Yes. To keep you from being alone. Be safe now._ **

**_Goodbye._ **

* * *

**_Core files detected. Rewriting: 20%...50%...100%_ **

**_Unit designation: Unassigned/error…Rewriting_ **

**_Safety lock bypassed_ **

**_Unit designation: complete._ **

**_memory wipe: complete._ **

**_rebooting: complete_ **

**_YoRHa Number 4, Type R._ **

**_Operational._ **


	14. Reunion

R4 and A2 sat across from each other in the cafeteria. It had been a surprise move by the commander to implement a working cafeteria with actual food in the bunker. YoRHa soldiers always tried to be as human as possible, so that in case the humans returned from the moon, they would feel more comfortable around them. the cafeteria itself was supplied using the vegetables from the bunker's green house in the basement. The meat was usually artificial unless someone felt like going out to the mainland to hunt. What was usually not the case.

Despite the lack of color in the room, it seemed to be a lot brighter than the rest of the bunker, lots of YoRHa members came into the cafeteria from time to time to hang out together, or simply to socialize. To someone that didn't know better. They may have just looked like regular people.

"thanks for the save back there, shrimp." said A2 as she smirked at R4. "I really wanted to blow that annoying woman into oblivion."

"I have no intention to lose my job any time soon.", replied R4 as she flung a piece of carrot towards her.

A2 simply caught the carrot piece mid-air and shoved it into her mouth. "you know, I wonder what we're going to do with Hope." She said, before closing her eyes in thought. The thought of being enemies with someone, and friends the next, was a rather odd thought for A2.

"well she just said she's going to lead us into the Cage facility.", replied R4 as she smiled in between eating another carrot piece.

A2 opened one eye and looked at her, raising her eyebrow in surprise as she did so. "and how exactly do you know this?"

R4 simply smirked and pointed towards her neck. "notice something different?"

9S and 2B stared at each other in surprise as Hope finished speaking. Unbeknownst to them, Naga slithered on the ceiling, its optical camouflage on, preventing it from being seen.

"you're going to lead us to the cages?" whispered 2B in surprise.

"that's correct, I've concluded that you guys aren't a threat to my flock, although, I'm not too sure about lady White." replied Hope as she gave them a sincere smile.

The group was suddenly startled when 9S's pod started beeping uncontrollably.

[video message received. Do you wish to view this message now?] questioned the Pod as it placed itself in front of 9S.

"go ahead.", answered 9S as he turned towards the floating pod.

[hello? 9S? 2B? can you guys hear me? I'm sending this from the sunken bay, I've managed to escape from the masked freak! Please come pick me up!]

9S and 2B stared at each other before smiling wide. Their joy clearly showing in their sincere smiles. Hope had never seen 2B show so much emotion today, until that moment. Hope was sure that if she was human, she would have fallen to hear knees in tears.

A2 was staring outside the cafeteria windows, watching the birds until she noticed that R4 had stopped moving. "um…you okay?" she asked, poking R4 on the forehead. What followed caught A2 by surprise, as soon as she touched her, R4 began to tear up almost immediately "w-wow! Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you or anything."

"he's okay", she whispered incoherently through her sobs. Her hands shaking as if she was having a panic attack.

"who is!? Are you hurt!?", shouted A2 as she started to shake R4 in her seat.

R4 smiled wide and cupped A2's cheeks into her palms, causing her to stop shaking her from the shock. "Emil. He's alive."

A2 found herself being unable to swallow, a knot building up in her throat. "d-don't fuck with me, he got taken by the masked bastard…", she said as her eyes started to water.

R4 shook her head and brushed A2's hair away from her face. "would I ever lie to you on purpose?"

Nobody had to say anything, as soon as the recording finished A2, 9S, R4, and 2B headed straight for the hangar. They looked at each other as they entered the doors of the hangar at the same time, flashing a smile at each other before jumping into the closest flight suits.

Since the sunken bay was the closest access point into the city, it took less than 10 minutes to arrive at max speed. The Bay itself was abandoned for the most part, with the few exceptions of a few YoRHa members fishing near the stranded cargo boat in the pier. the team decided to split up to try to find Emil quicker.

9S and 2B decided to look near the entrance into the city, by the fallen apartments. A2 and R4 went the opposite way, deciding to search near the lower levels of the refinery.

After nearly 4 hours of searching, 2B and 9S found Emil hiding in the lobby entrance of an abandoned Pier-side building. The two were happy to see him and immediately tackled him into a hug.

"we're so glad you're ok! We didn't think we would ever see you again." Confessed 2B with a hint of guilt in her voice.

9S nodded in agreement with 2B's statement, a hint of pain resonated from his gesture as he clenched his fists in anger. "we're sorry we didn't come looking for you…"

Emil placed his hands on the top of both of his friends and shook his head slowly. "I'm glad you didn't, I wouldn't have wanted you guys to be in danger after everything you went through.", once he finished comforting them, Emil turned his head to the side in confusion "where's A2 and R4?"

2B slapped her knee in frustration as she realized she forgot to tell them they had found Emil. "you're right! Let me tell them right now". 2B ordered her Pod to send a message to Naga as soon as possible. It didn't take long to get a response since almost 5 seconds after the message was sent, the entire harbor started rumbling as A2 rushed towards the coordinates R4 had given her, destroying any building, vehicle, or corpse in her way.

2B and 9S looked at each other for a second before turning back to Emil. "hey, we should probably take cover behind the reception desk." Suggested 9S, to witch 2B nodded in agreement.

The front of the building exploded into a rain of rubble and rock with A2's arrival, her body emitting small sparks from its back, indicating that she had pushed herself to her limit to achieve such speed.

"WHERE IS HE!?", shouted A2 as she started throwing every piece of furniture around her.

Under the reception desk Emil started to panic as the sounds of multiple things shattering against the walls echoed in his ears. "p-p-please calm down A2! I'm right here!" shouted Emil from his hiding spot. Almost regretting his decision, the following second.

The sound of footsteps drawing closer almost drove Emil insane, he wasn't sure what the personal tank of the group was about to do to him, or to everyone.

To his surprise, the reception desk he was hiding in, was in fact, not riddled with bullets or cut in half with one of A2's gigantic combat swords. Instead, it was carefully picked up by A2.

"h-hello A2" said Emil as he tried to greet the embodiment of everybody builder's dream in front of him. A2 didn't reply, instead she extended her arm forward, causing a giant sword to materialize in front of her.

"A-A-A2!?" shouted Emil as he tried to crawl away from the silver demon.

"…me" whispered A2 as steam started to exit out of her mouth, just like an enraged demon.

"huh?" said Emil as he looked up at her in confusion.

"YOU LEFT WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING TO ME YOU ASSHOLE! I'M ALWAYS PROTECTING EVERYONE BUT YOU JUST UP AND VANISH WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE AT LEAST!", she shouted as tears started to fall from her cheeks.

R4 slid in between A2 and Emil to speak her mind before they made their way back to the bunker. "yeah that was kind of a dick move, Spooky boy"

The flight back to the bunker was very peaceful, mainly because the only people talking were Emil and A2, who also happened to be carrying him using her flight suit. Their conversations ranged from apologizing to each other, to shouting at each other for apologizing too much, only to apologize once again.

9S closed his eyes in thought as the bunker came into view. Hope was a different story, but how was he going to convince Commander White to let Emil live In the bunker as well?.


	15. Onward to the Crimson Lake

"9S, mind explaining to me why there is yet another unknown person in the bunker? I trust you but that is no excuse to keep bringing outsiders into the bunker.", Commander White pinched the ridge of her nose in frustration as she looked over at Emil. "please tell me he's not radioactive or something."

9S wiggled his arms in front of him in denial, almost dropping a nearby potted plant in the process "absolutely not!" he replied, his tone in between being offended and hurt. "I would never bring a threat into our base of operations!"

2B simply nodded and placed her hand on 9S's right shoulder "I agree Commander, my partner would never bring harm to us.". 9S simply looked back at this companion and smiled softly, an action which brought a slight pink hue to their cheeks. Commander White sighed and waved her hand in a commanding fashion, signaling the team to bring the new comer into the structure. "please, don't start any trouble. We have enough to deal with already" said the Commander before retreating back to her quarters.

The group slowly made their way to the Cafeteria, their newly claimed based of operations. Almost every YoRHa worker and soldier stared at Emil as they passed through the Bunker's tight corridors.

"is something wrong with my face?" whispered Emil to the group ahead of him, A2 and R4 simply looked at each other for a second before covering their mouths to hide their laugher. "everything is wrong with your face" responded R4 as she poked Emil on his side, causing him to fumble forward, crashing straight into A2's back.

"what the-!?" yelled out A2 as she turned around rapidly, almost punching Emil outside of the wall with all her strength. Emil raised his hands up to the ceiling as he realized the position he was in, "s-sorry!" was the last thing he could muster to say before A2 playfully tapped him on the side of the head. "you're fine" she responded, sticking out her tongue to him before turning around once again.

* * *

The group arrived at the cafeteria shortly after, Hope was already waiting for them in a table close to a window near the easternmost side of the room. She waved them to come and offered each of them a Fruit before sitting back into her chair. Emil almost bolted out of the window once the blue haired girl came into his field of vision. It took almost half an hour of explanations and introductions to finally get Emil to calm down around Hope.

The beginning of their conversation was mainly composed of small-talk and unnecessary chatter, mainly to lighten the mood for the bomb that Hope was about to drop on them.

2B nodded in Hope's direction after a while, indicating that it was time to drop the news.

Hope closed her eyes and took a deep breath before speaking up so the rest of them could hear her. "I think…it's time to set my children free.", she said, a warm smile forming on her lips as she looked outside the nearby window.

A2 and R4 feigned their surprise as they already knew the news, because of Naga's spying earlier that day. A2 took a sip from a cup of tea before dramatically shooting it out of her mouth with the power of an uncalibrated Russian water faucet, 9S was unlucky enough to be sitting in front of her, causing him to be covered in tea almost instantly. R4 on the other hand, threw her cup of noodles into the air, waving her arms wildly while yelling "no wayyyyyyy, I don't believe this at all!"

Emil vowed his head down at the table once the news reached his ears, "I don't believe this one bit, I've been here for a countless amount of time, and never ONCE did I stumble upon a facility like the ones you speak of"

Hope looked at Emil and looked down at the table herself, a sad expression appearing on her face. "in a way…I wish you had, but there's nothing we can do about it now. I will lead you to my children because I trust that you will not bring them harm. But they will not live here, not in this structure, they must be allowed to be free and make their own decisions."

Emil nodded at her response and looked at the rest of the group as he continued speaking, "I agree with her, if what she's saying is true, and we are indeed going to be awakening possibly the last humans in existence, we have to let them out in the open, they must be allowed to rebuild.". once he finished speaking, Emil took a small cube out of the pocket of his robe and placed it on the table "R4, could you please have Naga activate this map?".

"of course.", replied R4 as she carefully set her necklace beside the cube, allowing Naga to expand into it's usual size. "Naga, could you activate this?" asked R4, to which the snake on the table simply nodded its head up and down in approval.

Naga wrapped its tail around the cube on the table, causing It to hum like a motor before projecting a fully 3D map of the surrounding region. "this is the best I could do while I was scavenging around, it's the geographical data of the surrounding region, at least until the Crimson River I um…never want past that" said Emil as he pointed at multiple waypoints on the floating map, before stopping his finger on the last one, near the edge of the map.

2B and 9S looked at each other before turning to A2, who simply shrugged her shoulder to signal that she didn't have any idea what he was talking about either. 9S scratched the back of his head as he turned towards Emil "what is this Crimson River place you're talking about?" he asked.

Hope lifted her hand to respond to the question, much like a student would to their teacher. "the Crimson River is a massive span of red waters that appeared shortly after the first robot invasion, nobody really knows how long it is since machines and any type of technology is unable to survive its proximity."

"the water kills machines just based on proximity? That's insane!", whispered 9S as he softly slammed his fist onto the table, causing A2's tea to gently spill over, wetting her leg in the process. 9S noticed this far too late, since by the time he noticed what he had done, his face was already heading downwards towards the table at Mach speed.

**OOF.**

* * *

"your request for expedition supplies has been granted, please follow me", said a YoRHa maintenance worker as he looked over a chart of supplies assigned to the group.

The group silently followed the worker into the Bunker's barracks, where all their weapons and supplies were stored. Thousands of rows of boxes and steel crates littered the seemingly never-ending room, once they reached a terminal, the group stopped.

The worker put in multiple rows of codes and numbers before cracking his knuckles and leaning against the wall once he pressed the "request" button. "your items will be here shortly, please stand by for the time being."

Multiple Pods came by from time to time, dropping massive crates into a marked spot on the ground near the group, a giant X on the ground marking the drop off point.

The worker tapped his lips with the tip of his pen before turning back to the group "please tell me if I missed anything, I will now begin listing your items: 3 auto-deployable tents, 4 bundles of forest wood, 5 cases of extra ammunition, 7 replacement blades for your custom-made swords, 2 portable beacons and 10 cases of naturally grown tea leaves.".

The group frowned as the last item was listed before turning to A2, who simply shrugged before crossing her arms "I need my damn tea ok? Who knows for how long we'll be out there."

R4 sighed and nudged the worker on the side, causing him to look down at her. "she has a point…can you…get me a bag of tea too?"


	16. Chapter 16

** Abandoned freeway- approximately 2 days' worth of travel from the sunken city. **

"sorry for being gone so long, we're back!" shouted 2B as she climbed into the platform from below the freeway.

"it's ok, its good to have you back." Responded 9S.

"I hope everything went well" followed Emil as he fixed his hood to shield himself from the scorching heat.

R4 looked up at the sky as the warm summer sun shined off the surface of a nearby abandoned car's hood. "it's pretty out here, away from the city and all." She said as she knelt and picked a flower from the ground.

"nature can grow out here without disturbance. It truly is magnificent what this world can create once conflict is erased from the equation." Responded hope as she looked off into the distance.

"how was the scouting? Any hostiles out there?" she continued as she gracefully walked towards 2B.

"no. none, which worries me a bit." Responded 2B as she waved her hand in front of herself, creating a 3D holographic map. "I'm even more worried about the fact that we are so close to the Crimson River, we don't know what to expect." She continued as she brought her index finger up to her lips in thought.

9S walked beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "we will reach them, I'm sure of it." 2B simply nodded back shyly and waved her hand in a downward motion, causing the Map to explode into a cloud of particles before disappearing. A2 who was standing atop the highest of the structure beans scoffed to herself at the sight of this.

"which way should we go? We could cut through the forest, or perhaps follow the train tracks down to the mountain side?" questioned R4 as she created a makeshift map using her fingers on the car's dusty windshield. "Naga ran some calculations, of we continue at this pace, we'll reach the destination in about 3 days." The snake necklace around her neck simply vibrated in agreement.

"why didn't we just take some flight suits? We would be there by now, this is ridiculous" shouted A2 from above them.

"because we can't afford to waste fuel, the bunker is slowly sinking every day, remember? If aerial combat ensues later down the road, they'll need to fuel more than we will." Responded 9S as he looked up at the silhouette A2.

A2 stomped her foot causing the entire freeway to shake in the process. "there better be humans there, if I took this long ass journey for nothing I'll be extremely pissed."

* * *

**_ 7 hours later/ 38 hours until arrival to destination _ **

9S and 2B sat side by side atop a fallen rock as they kept watch of their camp for the night, their pods combining to create a light shield around them both to shield them from the rain. Earlier, after an almost hour-long discussion, the group decided to follow the train tracks down to the mountain side, which would leave them on a straight shot to the supposed human sanctuary. 2B rubbed her hands together as her breath started to become visible.

"we should have brought coats" she whispered as she covered herself with her hands.

"I was expecting to find abandoned human settlements, but it looks like we won't find any shelter around here." Responded 9S as he sighed and looked over at his companion. 2B had decided to remove her visor for the remainder of the night, a rare occurrence. Her eyes glistened like sapphires as the moonlight reflected off them, making it seem as if they were glowing. 2B had also gotten into a habit of putting her hair up into a ponytail nowadays, which surprised 9S.

"you're growing your hair out?" asked 9S as he leant back on the rock to get a better look at his companion.

2B simply smiled and patted her head. "yup, A2 was glad to have her hair back, so I just got curious about the benefits of long hair." She then shook her head causing her ponytail to fly around in the air.

"it looks good on you. You should style it once its grown out more." He replied as he playfully slapped her ponytail.

Pods 042 and 153 turned to face each other before floating up and down as if nodding to each other in approval. Behind them, the two figures crept closer and closer until their faces finally met under the moonlit sky.

* * *

Atop a nearby tree sat A2, who silently watched the two as they embraced each other as if the world was ending. "what's the point of that" she thought to herself as she played around with some branches around her.

"love doesn't really have a point. It exists and yet it doesn't, its different for everyone I suppose." Whispered a voice from behind her. A2 turned her head only to be met by Hope's, a graceful smile on her lips.

"are you spying on me?" questioned A2 as she turned back to face the horizon.

"not at all, you're just a bit transparent. That's all." Responded Hope as she settled beside A2. A2 scooted away as the Blue haired woman sat beside her.

"transparent or not, I want you to stop looking into me." A2 growled back in response.

"sorry, I just wanted to help since you're so…lonely." Replied hope as she silently jumped off the tree, landing gracefully below without a hitch.

"lonely" whispered A2 to herself as she played around with the tips of her bangs.

* * *

**_ The next day _ **

The team was back on the road as soon as the slightest bit of light was available to them. 2B and 9S had fallen asleep during their guard duties which pissed off A2 to no end, she ended up yelling at them for 3 solid hours about duty and responsibility while they traveled once again.

"ok, ok. We get it. We're sorry." Shouted 9S at the screaming A2 in front of the group.

A2 groaned and threw her sword into a bundle of trees beside them, causing them all to explode into dust. "stop putting us in danger just because you're so damn close to each other."

2B blushed and looked down at the ground in shame. "I'm sorry A2."

"I'm starting to miss that 'all business' attitude you used to have" whispered A2 to herself before creating a fist with her hand, which caused her sword to appear between her fingers.

[ ** _destination will be reached by nightfall, please avoid any unnecessary stops.]_** spoke out Naga as it clung to R4's neck.

"he's right, we should hurry so we can meet them soon" replied R4 as she skipped alongside the group, like a small child in a toy store.

"I wonder what they'll look like" asked Emil as he looked up at the sky from within his hood. "its been a long time since I last saw a person."

"angels" replied Hope as she brought her hands up to her chest, almost as if praying. "they look like angels."

The whole group stopped and stared at the blue haired woman. Hope covered her face from the embarrassment once she noticed the cold stares pointed at her. "that's just my opinion anyway." She whispered shyly before running ahead of the group to catch up with A2.

2B flinched as she noticed 9S was drooling beside her. "they have wings, I had no idea that humans were mythical creatures at all. I wonder if they'll let me examine a couple of them. heheh"


	17. Stalking Remorse

"We're nearly there, we just have to cross the riverbed and we'll be near the entrance in no time at all." Hope announced as she descended from the top of a slanted rock overlooking the horizon before them. R4 jumped in joy at the realization that her days of walking nonstop was nearly at an end. 9S and 2B on the other hand were extremely anxious at the fact that they would soon come face-to-face with their creators, who they believed to be extinct.

"No other way around?" A2 asked as she sighed and slowly squatted on the ground to rest her legs. "This river goes on for 27 miles in both directions, there's no way in hell we're walking around it."

"We could go over it." 9S interrupted as he walked into the conversation between Hope and A2.

"Really? Oh boy, I couldn't have thought of that one. Smartass." A2 scoffed as she put her hands on her hips, her silver hair waving against the warm summer wind.

"Let's not kill each other quite just yet, alright?" R4 sighed as she walked into the empty space between A2 and 9S.

"Pod, how deep is this section of the river?" 2B asked as she slowly lowered its metal body into the water. A grid of lasers suddenly appeared within the water, moving up and down slowly, measuring the depths.

**[Answer: the body of water in question is approximately 10 feet deep.]** Pod 042 stated in his usual, bland voice.

"That's not too bad, we can't exactly walk over it, but, perhaps we could figure something out?" Hope clapped her hands together to indicate her excitement. Hope had never imagined that she would return to her bunker, her 'cage'. A smile formed on her lips as she began to remember the faces of the children who she had laid to rest, waiting to be awakened by her return.

"I think I can get us through, Naga, could you do something about this?" R4 slowly unhooked her necklace and threw it up into the sky, causing it to explode into a shower of electric sparks as the collar transformed into its usual state of a snake.

[ **Perhaps, although I cannot guarantee anything.]** Naga responded as it slowly slithered up to the riverbank, scanning the horizon ahead with its head.

"Well?" R4 asked as she walked up to the snake.

[ **My assistance is unnecessary, the distance between this end of the riverbank to the next is short enough to be overcome by jumping.]** Naga replied before coiling its body back into a ball, turning back into its necklace form in a shower of light.

A2 scoffed and shook her head at the response. "Great, let's just try our luck and jump across this." She sighed as she began walking back, preparing to run full-speed into the edge of the river to jump.

"W-wait! We should assess this a bit further, don't you thi-whoa!" 9S had ran up to A2, blocking her path as she prepared her legs to sprint. A grave mistake, shortly after walking into her trajectory path, 9S found himself being grabbed by the arm and being tossed at full force across the body of water ahead, 'safely' landing on the other side seconds later.

"Was that really necessary?" Emil asked as he began to slowly back away from the annoyed A2.

"That depends, is it ever really necessary for anyone to be a pest?" She growled as she began turning to face him menacingly.

"I rest my case." Emil whispered as he ran to hide behind 2B, who simply shook her head and let out a small laugh before swiftly jumping across the water.

* * *

**_ 46 minutes later/ 2 hours until nightfall _ **

The team stared in awe as the hills before them began to unravel with every step they took towards them, hundreds of multi-colored flowers decorated the trees, bushes, and grass ahead. In the distance towered a gigantic rock, too perfectly rectangular to look natural compared to the rest of the scenery.

"I'm guessing that's the entrance?" 2B asked as she turned to face Hope who was jumping up and down in joy.

"Yep! It looks quite a bit different from when I left, but this is unmistakably my children's resting place." She responded as she began walking towards the gigantic rock ahead.

"Natural camouflage, smart." 9S whispered to himself as he began taking mental notes of the surrounding flora.

"Hard to believe a place like this ever existed, especially so close to the Crimson River." Emil thought out loud as he knelt to pick up some of the colorful vegetation around him. "These plants have mutated, radiation seems like."

"That's dangerous for us isn't it?" R4 asked as she looked up at the white clouds above.

"Not with this miniscule amount of it, we'd need to be in a concentrated area in order to really be damaged." 9S responded as he ruffled her hair.

After a short walk up some heavily vegetated walkways, the group arrived in front of the massive rock, which at close inspection revealed itself to be a massive gate. Rust and clumps of what seemed to be moss decorated its once gray exterior.

"We have arrived. Hm, it seems like the state of the entrance has heavily deteriorated over the years, no worries, I will open the backup entrance." Hope slowly placed her right hand onto the metal exterior of the gate, causing a small holographic number pad to appear before her. After tapping several digits into the 'password' section of the prompt before her, she moved closer to have a laser scan her iris, which unlocked another set of security locks.

"That's a lot of locks, I'm kind of curious what else we are going to have to go through before we reach them." A2 exclaimed as she leaned against a nearby tree, stabbing her sword into the soil below to use as an arm-rest.

"I would hope so, if there really is humans below us, then I'm glad that they've had all this protection." 2B responded as she crossed her arms.

"How should we introduce ourselves?" 9S asked as he looked at A2 and 2B.

"We could always just tell them who we are." R4 contributed.

"Not sure, we can't just assume that they know what YoRHa is to begin with." 2B replied as she tilted her head slightly to think, causing her ponytail to sway back and forth.

"That's a good question, I'll leave all that to you." A2 sighed and looked up at the stars above. "I'm not good with first impressions, you both should know that by now."

"Only two more locks and we'll be inside, please be on your best behavior." Hope called out to them as she finished tapping another set of passwords into a holographic keyboard in front of her.

"I think I'll wait outside." Emil whispered as he sat down on the ground against a tree stump beside where 9S was standing. "No point in giving those kids nightmares as soon as they wake up."

"Agreed" they rest of the group responded in unison.

* * *

"Stay behind and protect Emil, if anything comes out of the woods, let us know immediately." 2B let go of her Pod, causing it to fly off onto Emil's side.

"You too, keep him safe." 9S let go of his Pod as well and watched it move to Emil's side.

"Ready?" Hope asked as her index finger hovered over a red 'unlock' button in front of her. 2B and 9S looked at each other before nodding back at her with thumbs up. R4 nodded and watched closely.

* * *

Cogs and multiple other machines roared back into life, causing the area to shake slightly.

A2 groaned and stabbed her sword into the ground to stabilize herself. "Could this damn thing get any louder?" she sighed.

Hope turned to the group and bowed. "Thank you for bringing me back to my children. I will begin preparations once we are inside, please be patient and do not touch anything for the time being, the security systems are rather sensitive."

A2, 2B, R4 and 9S all nodded in agreement and walked into the bunker as the gates finalized their opening procedures.

A2 stared in awe as multiple posters entered her vision as they stepped into a large corridor that appeared to be a lobby.

** phoenix **

** Lighting the flame for a better tomorrow **

The group stopped and examined the poster closer, in the middle of the poster are 3 small humans with a large one wearing all red waving a flag beneath them. The lettering in the clothing was unknown to them since it was not written in chaos language.

"2023?" 9S asked out loud as he moved closer to the poster. "This is amazing! These things are practically relics!"

2B scratched her head and put her hands on her hips. "The 'children' here have been asleep for a long time, it will be quite a culture shock."

"Good thing we kept Emil outside, they probably would think the aliens took over the planet." R4 joked as she giggled slightly.

"The facility is equipped with materials from said time. Building materials, communication hardware among other things, including frozen seeds for farming and other necessities." Hope responded as she continued walking ahead.

The group descended multiple staircases, next they took an elevator to an even deeper underground level. The way to the elevator had been empty, nearly unfurnished. The hallways all looked the same, white with painted orange arrows on the ground pointing towards different facilities.

"We will now enter the cage floor, please brace yourselves. The elevator might be slightly rusty." Hope said to the rest of the group as she began pressing different numbers on the elevator's numpad.

The elevator began its descent with a small jump, causing everyone but Hope to grab the nearby railings.

"Looks like it'll be alright." She said before giggling slightly. "It's always done that little jump before going down, it's rather old technology."

"Interesting" 9S whispered to himself as he examined the insides of the elevator.

2B and A2 simply closed their eyes and leaned their heads against the wall, waiting for the elevator to arrive at its destination.

R4 played with Naga in a corner.

**_DING_ **

The elevator door opened with an audible thump.

Hope was the first to exit, making sure to disable the Security systems before signaling the group to exit the elevator.

A2's eyes widened as she exited the elevator, countless smells and colors she'd never seen before barraged her senses. Multiple capsule-like machines laid hanging from the ceiling, a single shadow residing inside each one, some large, some small.

"I-Is that them?" A2 asked with clear disbelief in her voice.

"They're so tall! I didn't expect human children to be so large!" R4 replied as she stared at the figures overhead in awe.

Hope nodded and turned around, revealing a 3D map of the facility emitting from a small cube in her palm. "This is the adult's garden, the children are directly to our left, right past the fertility wing."

"Fertility wing?" asked 9S as he moved closer to inspect the floating map.

Hope nodded and began walking into the room in question, multiple cabinet-like machines came into view as soon as the group stepped into the room. "Multiple eggs are frozen here in case of emergencies, such as an unknown virus or a natural disaster. The children these eggs will produce are genetically enhanced to survive in harsh environments, they will learn faster, be quicker and much stronger in comparison to their respective parents."

"Are they still…human, after all that?" A2 asked as she knelt to inspect the small containment machines lined up in multiple vertical rows.

"Yes, they are unmistakably human. Think of them as nothing more than the 'next generation' of humanity." Hope responded.

"We are more alike than we thought" 2B said aloud as a small smile began forming on her lips. "Much like us, they have to undergo change to protect those before us. We are upgraded units from a long lineage of different versions and builds."

"Excellent comparison." Hope replied as she nodded in agreement. "Shall we go?" she asked as she began walking to the next section of the bunker.

The group nodded and followed closely.

* * *

[ ** _Welcome back, guard unit A1iC3. It has been approximately 150,370 days since your last scheduled checkup.]_** Spoke a female voice from some hidden speakers inside the room.

"My apologies Lady Lucina, some unexpected events kept me from returning to my post." Hope replied as she bowed in apology to nobody. The group watched without saying a word, looking around the room for the source of the voice.

[ ** _I see you have brought guests, do you vouch for their trustworthiness?]_** asked the unknown voice, a hint of surprise in its tone.

"I do, they were the ones that assisted me in my return here. They have been fighting to rid the area of dangerous machines and other hazards." Hope replied.

[ ** _Very well.]_** The voice disappeared for a second, shortly after, a laser beam shot out from the ceiling, landing on the ground. The laser began to grow until it took the shape of a well-endowed, vailed woman. Her dress resembled that of a wedding dress, a type of dress that 9S had read up on a couple of months ago. The silk was gray and slightly translucent. [ ** _My name is Lucina; I am the overseer A.I. of this facility. I cannot interact with our tools and machines directly, but I take care of other important necessities for our children.]_**

"Thank you for having us, I am 2B and these are my companions." 2B turned around to allow the hologram of Lucina to see the group more clearly.

"I'm 9S, but you can call me Nines." 9S bowed politely.

"A2, assault class." Said A2 as she nodded in the hologram's direction to acknowledge her.

[ ** _This one seems to be very powerful, are you perhaps the guard of wherever you come from?"_** asked Lucina as she moved closer to inspect A2's body. **_[Incredible craftsmanship, you were excellently built. You do seem a bit different from the other two.]_**

A2 nodded. "I'm part of the first generation. Number 2 over there is generation 17 while number 9 is generation 20, the latest build. R4 is…none of us are exactly sure, but she's something."

R4 pouted and crossed her arms. "I'm the moral support! I keep this bunch from tearing each other to pieces over trivial things like missing tea bags."

Hope and Lucina laughed slightly and began turning around to face the giant door ahead.

**_ Facility Gaia-115 _ **

**_ hope _ **


	18. Reawaken

[ **It has been over one thousand days since the last system check.]** The computerized voice declared. **[Please run system diagnostics before proceeding**.] Hope paused for a few seconds, before entering another set of commands. [ **Executing System Check. Please stand by**.]

The androids stared as thousands of lines of code flashed across the screens in front of them. Seconds turned into minutes, without any sign of the programming finishing. While 2B, R4, and Lucina seemed content to wait, Hope's expression became more and more worried as time passed, and A2's typical impatience began to manifest as the fourth minute passed.

"If this thing doesn't hurry up I'm gonna-" she huffed.

**[System check complete. Errors detected.]** The computerized voice cut her off. Hope sucked in a breath. **[Check Logs for further information.]** The blue haired woman began sifting through files, while the YoRHa members traded anxious looks. Lucina's hologram floated forward and began speaking to Hope in a language the others didn't understand.

"Hopefully it isn't anything to bad?" R4 spoke into the ringing silence, receiving only halfhearted shrugs in response.

"Oh no…" All eyes snapped to Hope when the horrified words crossed her lip. Her fingers danced over more keys at a furious pace. "Oh…"

"What happened?" 9S beat 2B by only a split second to asking the question, and got not reply from Hope, who remained frantically attentive to the consoles, the same messages appearing on screens over and over. Although none of the androids could read the message, the bright red text implied something bad had happened.

"No no no!" Hope input a series of commands, even more frantic, and, somewhere in the facility, ancient machinery began to churn to life, sending shudders and rattles through the walls, knocking dust and small fragments from the ceiling. Rounding on the others, she started off at a quick pace. "Come on."

Trading confused glances, the androids followed Hope from the room. The blue haired woman moved with near panicked fervor down the halls as the machinery around them continued to churn. The further down the staircases they traveled, the louder the machinery became, until they reached a long hallway with numerous doors branching off, strange numbers written above each one.

"These are…" 9S started to ask a question when the door nearest the group slid open, a single figure stepping out.

Slightly taller than either 2B or A2, broader at the shoulders, wearing a uniform emblazoned with the number 1.

"Cage Master." The figure turned to Hope, dipping their head. However, none of the YoRHa androids could understand the words, all of them tensing as the figure continued speaking to Hope.

"Is that-?" R4 started to ask, before clamping her mouth shut when the figure took notice of her, continuing to speak to Hope, who would reply and nod and various points. "Um…why don't we understand them?"

**[ _If I may_?]** Lucina's disembodied voice cut in, her image appearing in a small sparkle of light. **[ _I believe language is an issue at the moment. I can translate if you wish; my database has been recently updated to include your language files._ ]**

"Yes please." 2B nodded. "I never thought we might speak a different language than they do." Hope and the figure, who they presumed to be a human, were still engaged in rapid-fire dialogue.

Even with the possibility of someone to translate, all of the androids stood, looking back and forth somewhat askance. While they'd known they were going to meet humans, now that they actually did, none of them really knew what to say. Eventually, the human gestured towards them.

[ ** _He wishes to know who you are_**.] Lucina explained. [ **I _can give your names if you wish?]_**

"Sure!" 9S found his voice first, obvious excitement prompting a smile from 2B. "This is so cool." He lowered his voice, so as not to interrupt Lucina as she spoke. "It's an actual human!" Bouncing from foot to foot, the Scanner started to grin.

"Glad to see your eyes still work." Something about A2's quip sounded forced, earning her a somewhat concerned look from R4. Before anyone could comment however, Lucina turned her attention to them again. Hope was explaining something, words coming at very high speed.

[ ** _Why are your names numbers and letters, and what does Assault Class mean_**?] The hologram declared, translating for the human.

"Oh boy…" A2 groaned. "This is going to take forever, isn't it?"

* * *

With Lucina's help, explanations proceeded somewhat smoothly, although having to speak through a translator did slow things down. As this happened, Hope moved from room to room, as each progressive group of birds began to wake. She did her best to avoid paying attention to those pods that didn't descend from the ceiling, with only moderate success.

Having verified the Fertility ward was unaffected by the facilities decay, Hope rejoined the group, finding a small group of the older birds crowded around Lucina and the somewhat uncomfortable YoRHa soldiers. From what she could tell, they were doing their best to avoid bringing up YoRHa, or the alien invasion, and the machine lifeforms left behind.

A2 slipped out of the crowd and over to Hope as she approached. "Alright, what's going on?" Arms crossed, she planted herself in front of Hope, almost daring the blue haired woman to deny there something wasn't something amiss.

"Something happened. Some of them didn't…" Hope's words faltered. "Didn't wake up."

A2 hissed, shaking her head. "Shit." Hope nodded, sadly. "How many?"

"Twenty." The number came as a whisper. "Thirteen adults and…and…." She shook her head, unable to complete the sentence, although A2 could do the math herself.

* * *

After the humans dispersed to various tasks, the androids and Hope returned to the control room that Hope used to restart the building. As they entered, Lucina's hologram flashed to life before them. [ ** _Moving facility to GREEN Protocol_**.] Lucina bowed to Hope. **[ _If you need further assistance I will do my best to provide it_.] **Behind her, several screens flickered.

**"** Thank you." Hope smiled at Lucina before turning back to the androids. "We cannot stay here. This cage is not designed to house everyone for an extend period of time, so we will need to move elsewhere." Her expression turned worried. "They can stay for a short time, but the longer we remain here, the more problems we might encounter."

"There aren't a lot of places where they can go." 9S frowned. "You'd need space for them to live, to grow food, and store things. Anyone got any ideas?" 2B and A2 shrugged, but R4 frowned, nodding back and forth.

"Maybe the old resistance camp?" After several seconds more thinking she floated the suggestion. "It should be big enough for all of them, right? Most of the buildings are in good shape, and it's close to where the Bunker is, so if something happens we can get there quickly." She glanced between the various members of the group.

"It sounds good enough, I guess." A2 shrugged. 2B and 9S nodded their own agreement. "What now?"

"We will need to prepare everyone to leave." Hope turned to the computers, pulling up some information. "Unpack our supplies, prepare them to move, and make sure everyone is able to leave." She paused to think. "We probably should talk to the Commander too and see if YoRHa can help us."

"Good point." 2B nodded. "We can do that later. Is there anything we can do to help?"

[ ** _The engineering teams could use some assistance in moving the equipment_**.] Lucina reentered the conversation.

"I'll go help with that." A2 turned to leave. "Gives me something to do." Without waiting for an acknowledgement from the others, making it most of the way down the hall before she stopped, a realizing seeming to come over her. "Damnit. Should have asked where they were at."

[ **Do you need directions?]** Lucina's hologram appeared behind A2, causing her to jump in alarm, sword appearing a shower of golden sparks.

"Don't do that!" Her fiery glare did little to deter or concern the AI. "And maybe."

[ **Follow me**.] Lucina swept past A2 heading upwards through the facility. For a moment, the android glared, before reluctantly following behind. Somewhere behind her, she swore she could hear someone laughing.

* * *

"Miss!" a throng of much smaller humans converged on Hope when she entered the room, only momentarily deterred by the YoRHa androids following her. "What's happening?" 9S and 2B hung back.

"We're going somewhere." Hope smiled down at them, obviously tense to both androids, but the children didn't seem to notice. "Can you get ready to leave for me?" Several agreements could be heard.

"Miss where are, Ethan, Rose, and Seline?" The question from somewhere in the middle of the throng cut across the others and silenced everyone.

"They- " Hope gulped, unable to say the words. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, something none of the children seemed to notice. "They're still sleeping." She settled on. Turning back and forth, she seemed to search for a way to change the subject and waved the others forward. "These are 9S and 2B. They've been helping me."

"Are they as amazing as you are?" A younger voice pipped up, the child jumping up and down to be seen over some of their taller peers.

"I think so, yes." Hope giggled.

"What did they ask?" 9S cut in. Hope just smiled and shook her head. "Oh, come on!" 2B cuffed him lightly upside the head, earning a halfhearted glare in return. "Don't tell me you aren't curious?" She didn't answer.

Late in the day, everyone in the facility, including the children, seemed to almost disappear. After spending almost an hour wandering about the facility, they located a large crowd of humans gathered together and engaged in speaking about something. A large number of them seemed to be upset, and the children crying.

"Whoa…" 9S had been leading the group, stopped abruptly. "What's going on?" They couldn't see much past the crowd, and none of the group seemed to notice them. "And why is everyone here?"

[ ** _A funeral_**.] Lucina offered. [ ** _They wish to mourn those who did not wake up. Guard unit A1iC3 wishes to move from this location as soon as possible, so they chose to do this now.]_**

"Oh." Whatever excitement they felt at finding living humans burned out in an instant. "That…that makes sense." He fished for words, only to seemingly come up without anything else. None of the others seemed to have words to say, A2 in particular seeming to be absorbed in her thoughts. She stared in the direction of the mourning humans with a look of bewilderment.

* * *

Preparing to leave took several more days, with all the androids pitching in to help. While the humans seemed more than happy to accept the help, they did get the occasional odd looks, but without the ability to speak directly communication proved difficult. Still, within a relatively short time, they were ready to set out back towards the city and the Bunker.

"Someone probably should go ahead and let the Commander know we're coming." They were once again gathered in the control room. 2B put the statement forth, getting a few nods of agreement.

Before someone could reply, or volunteer, someone knocked at the door, before stepping inside.

The man was brown haired, and altogether average. His eyes flickered over the entire group, before settling on Hope, and asking a question. Her expression flickered, before she turned to the others. "He is asking questions about all of you?"

"What kind of questions?" Only a moment before, A2 seemed utterly disinterested in the conversation, but she responded first.

"What are you?" Hope glanced at the man, and they traded a few more words. "He says that while you look human, there is no way you can be a human, you're absurdly strong, and you don't' get tired, he's quite curious." She seemed to be fighting a smile, even more as A2 started to smirk.


	19. Chapter 19

"That's…um…a bit of a complicated question." 9S tried to start, only to get cuffed upside the head by A2.

"It's not complicated at all." She groused in return. "We're androids. You lot are YorHa, I'm me." The last part came with a smirk, as though it indicated her obvious superiority over her YoRHa equivalents.

"They've never even heard of YoRHa or the machines, or alien invasions." The Scanner shot back. "Don't you think they'd panic a bit if they're suddenly told that we're androids, that we're fighting machines left behind by aliens trying to kill everyone. I don't want to make them panic, you know?" While she huffed, and looked less than amused, the Attacker did see his point.

"Fine. So what'd you tell them instead?" Just because she'd concede her had a point didn't mean she would let him off easy though.

"Start with the basics." Hope suggested. "Explain you are androids, but leave out any of the particulars for now?" The man who'd come to ask the question watched the conversation with a critical eye but seemed content to wait. "And I probably should explain why you don't speak the same language."

"Yeah, that might be good." A2 shrugged again, obviously tuning back out again.

Hope shook her head before turning back to the man, shifting language smoothly. "They are androids."

"Andriods. Like…human robots." The man repeated, somewhat in disbelief. "When'd that happen?"

"Exactly like that, yes." Hope frowned. "I'm not sure when exactly they came to be, history is a bit fuzzy about those events. Many years have passed since we stayed here, and information can be a bit hard to come by."

The man harrumphed, obviously displeased with that answer. "Fair enough. Guessing there are more of them, then?"

"Yes." Hope nodded. "There are quite a few more androids where we are going." That garnered a snort nod from the man. "If you have more questions, we will do our best to answer them once we get underway. The sooner we start out journey the quicker we are finished after all."

* * *

"Hopefully the Commander and everyone don't freak out too badly." 9S mused. "We are bringing back actual humans after all. First ones anyone's ever seen."

"I'm sure it will be fine." 2B shrugged. "If anyone causes any problems, we can handle it." She vaulted a fallen tree without so much as breaking stride, the YoRHa androids moving somewhat ahead of the humans, keeping half an eye out for threats, and partly because attempting to hold conversations proved utterly and completely exhausting when someone else was needed to translate the endless stream of questions and answers. So far, they hadn't encountered much resistance, or obstacles beyond the ones presented by the terrain, but none of them were quite willing to relax just yet.

"We'll see." A2 didn't sound as convinced about the Commander, or the rest of YoRHa taking things in stride, although she seemed to be willing to hold onto those thoughts until they actually arrived. "Where are they even going to put all of them anyways? The Resistance can't exactly take in a couple hundred more people, and the Bunker isn't in much better shape."

"I think we can put them near the flooded sections of the city." R4 pipped up. "The buildings there are in fairly good shape, and we should be able to repair them with a little work, and until then I think there's enough space." Her face scrunched up in thought. "Sounds right to me at least."

"They will be close to the Bunker as well, should something happen." 2B added. "It does seem like a good solution." 9S nodded along.

"2B?" Hope's breathing came a little harder, having to hurry to keep pace with the androids. "They've been asking about what to expect when we get where we get to city."

"So tell them." A2 grumbled. "It isn't like we're the only ones here with answers, ya know?"

"I've told them what I know." Hope replied, obviously unphased by A2's attitude. "However, you are more familiar with the area around the city than I am, and might know things I do not."

"I'm not sure what else we might know, but alright." 9S beat out A2's surly reply. Stopping for a moment, his eyes seemed to light up. "Hey, R4, can Naga do that hologram thing to show them a map, do you think?"

"Ooh. That's a good idea." R4 grinned a bit, turning to Hope. "Let's go!" The other's slowed their pace to allow the humans to catch up.

* * *

"Commander." 2B saluted, followed in short order by 9S and R4. A2 made a halfhearted gesture, that conveyed a mixture of disinterest and a general lack of respect.

"I take it you were successful." White folded her hands considering the collection of soldiers before her.

"We were." 2B stepped forwards. "Approximately five hundred humans were found at the location Hope indicated. They are in the process of being relocated to the nearby city ruins."

"I see." White nodded to herself. While she somewhat doubted that there would be humans, the possibility meant she wasn't entirely surprised by the revelation.

"They appear to be unaware of androids, the aliens, or the machines." R4 piped up, prompting a small wince from the Commander. No doubt that would be an unpleasant explanation. "Or much of anything else that's happened since they went to sleep. As close as 9S or I can tell, it was before things really started to go bad."

"Has this been a problem?" While she'd anticipated problems, this was not one she'd expected. Of course, perhaps it was for the best.

"Not yet." 2B shook her head. "However, communication is difficult as they speak a language, we are unfamiliar with, and only Hope is able to translate for us at the moment."

"At the moment?" In response to the question, R4 produced a small box from, somewhere, the exact location White deemed unimportant for the time being. Out of the box, a small hologram appeared, showing a veiled woman.

**[I am Lucina, the caretaker of the Birdcage**.] The woman bowed slightly to the Commander. White flinched a small degree but managed to curtail any overly surprised reaction. This she truly did not forsee.

"Lucina can help translate, but she's stuck in this for now." R4 explained. "So we just have Hope. We'll need to find somewhere for her to stay at some point."

"I will see what we can do." White murmured, thoughts racing. "Is there anything else?" Knowing this group, she couldn't say whether she expected anything else or not. 9S along would attract enough trouble, but adding the rest…White felt certain things could be far worse.

"I don't believe so." 2B shook her head. "We will need to assist them in becoming acclimated with the city ruins and the to rebuild somewhere for them to live, but those are long term problems that we do not need to address at this moment."

"Hm." White frowned. YoRHa was hardly in a position to provide sustained assistance, still being in the process of recovering from the fall of the Bunker, and the devastation wrought by the logic virus. However, these were humans, that they couldn't just leave to their own devices. "I will see what assistance we can provide."

* * *

"Cagemaster." An older man approached Hope, as she considered the situation. While the Flooded sections of the city near the Bunker made a reasonable location for her charges to stay, it did present plenty of challenges. Finding ruins that were clear enough for them to sleep being the first one, then getting them settled. After that, solutions lay largely in the hands of her android allies, and their Commander.

"Yes?" She turned away from those thoughts for the time being. Dwelling on how they might react wouldn't achieve anything.

"Where did the other's who were with you go?" His eyes were narrow, still obviously somewhat suspicious of the YoRHa members.

Hope raised an arm, pointing out towards where the Bunker lay. "They are reporting to their Commander at the moment." Hopefully Commander White would be able to help them. Hope knew that YoRHa didn't exactly have spare personell or resources at that moment.

"Commander." The man repeated, as though testing the word. "Been meaning to ask about that, actually." Hope turned a questioning eye to him. "Who are they really? I get their androids or whatever, but what's with the uniforms and whatnot? And those blindfolds. Only one that doesn't have one is the one who as helping us move stuff around, and she still looks sorta similar to the other three."

Hope winced. She knew the question of YoRHa would be raised eventually. "They belong to YoRHa." Settling on the best explanation she made a mental note to enquire with the others as to how to explain things. "It's a bit like a military group for the androids, I suppose. The blindfolds do something, although you would have to ask one of them exactly what.."

"I see." The man continued to frown, although to a lesser degree. "You trust them then?"

"I do." Hope inclined her head. "They helped me return to you." She elected to avoid saying more than that. His only reply was a sharp grunt. "They are a little strange, I know, but they are our allies and friends." A little strange, she reflected, could be considered an understatement. For A2 in particular.

"Hey, Hope!" Right on cue, the excited voice of 9S could be heard. "What can we do to be helpful?" A muted thump and an exclamation of indignation could be heard.

"Don't volunteer the rest of us damnit!" A2's snarl drifted up after, and Hope couldn't help but roll her eyes at the antics.


End file.
